We have been blessed with a great deal of rain this spring and it could not have come at a more perfect time. Our lake had become dangerously close to running out of water.

I had come to the personal conclusion that this might have been a good thing to show those living below Thurmond Dam how crucial it is to conserve as much water as possible in the lakes above the dam.

They would have looked at the river and realized the type of drought those of us above the dam were experiencing.

They would have been forced to make some difficult decisions on how they live, operate and run their businesses.

This is something that we above the dam have been experiencing for several years now. We thank our good Lord above that he sent rain and we never got to that point. Unfortunately, this hurts our opportunity to convince many people that the way the lakes our managed needs to be changed.

Colonel Ed Kertis played a large role in the lakes filling up as quickly as they did. He reduced and even shut off flows for some time through the dam during large rain events.

This shows that the Corps has the ability to monitor and change flows in real time.

It also shows that we have a colonel that is willing to help us and consider our needs. We need to be thankful that we have a colonel that is willing to have an open mind and recognize that the way things have been done in the past are not the best way to move forward. If you get an opportunity to thank the colonel personally please do so. Hopefully, he will stick around for quite a while and we can make some progress while he is here.

Although these steps were taken and the lake is up, we are not where we need to be with the overall management plan. There are several things in the works that will hopefully reduce flows during the winter months but nothing that will permanently change the flows year round. Currently the flows are around 4,000 cubic feet per second and are headed even higher. The colonel and the Corps get tremendous pressure from other groups asking them to increase flows. We need to let it be known that we are strongly opposed to this. If all requirements can be met with 3600cfs why would there ever be a reason to have flows higher than this? If the lakes stay full we will always have water in reserve and it will be less likely that we get to this critical stage again. We need to continue to be vocal to our elected representatives and ask that they stay on top of this matter.

Colonel, what else can we do to conserve water in the lakes? Please continue to make decisions that will conserve water rather than wasting it.

There is an event happening on August 5 at noon, in which the colonel will be attending. Please show up and participate in the event. Lets show the colonel how much our county needs the lake at full pool. This event will be held at the historical park. It will be an attempt to beat the current covered dish lunch on record ,that is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records. More details on the event will be coming from Chamber of Commerce.

One theory that is currently under investigation: The colonel is Florida University alumni. He may be increasing flows to empty the lakes, just to agitate all of the Georgia, Clemson and South Carolina fans. So far this seems to be the most logical theory.
CLAY ANTONAKOS
Save our Lakes Now