Ultimately the Colonel in control of the Savannah River Basin is the best person to correct our lake level problems. If he decides to protect recreation at the same level he handles the other responsibilities Congress has given the Corps for managing our lakes, he can control lake levels well inside +/- 5ft by decreasing flows to as little as 3600cfs anytime the lakes drop more than a foot. As stated repeatedly in Corps documents concerning release rates from Lake Thurmond, 3600cfs has no significant environmental impact on the river below the lakes. Colonel Tickner may well do just that. Time will tell. He has maintained excellent level control so far but we won't know for sure until we hit a real dry spell similar to the droughts experienced repeatedly over the past decade.
If you wonder whether that kind of level control is unreasonable, look at what the Corps is doing right now. They are maintaining lake levels to within +/- 6 inches for a couple of months while fish spawning is in progress.
But what if the Colonel ignores recreation the way we have seen in the past. Then we need a congressman with a willingness to bring this to a stop. Looking at the congressional race in Georgia there are two gentlemen who could make a real difference. One is Gary Gerrard who is a no nonsense lawyer. He has told us that if elected he will make sure lake stakeholders get representation at the meetings where lake levels and release rates are decided by the Corps. The other is Stephen Simpson who goes even further than that. He understands the mechanics involved and agrees with our suggested solution to the problem. Furthermore Stephen has powerful contacts in the army who would be more than willing to help with our problem. Whether you live in SC or GA do what you can to support one or the other of these. It would be a shame to have one of the other candidates win because non of them has expressed any concern for or knowledge about our lake problems.
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