Corps Water Managers Calling for Lower Lake Levels by August

Still on the mend from a two-year drought, the Savannah River Basin came roaring back in May, only to sputter out as the summer officially arrived.

U.S. Corps of Engineers Savannah office spokesman Jeremy Buddemeier tells WNEG News all three reservoir lakes had near record-setting rainfall in May, but not much rain in June.

And he says that means we can see lower lake levels by the end of summer.

“Our water managers when they’re looking at their 10-week projections, they’re looking at power usage, seasonal rainfall amounts, and evaporation. So as usage goes up and rainfall goes down, they make their predicitions as to what the lake levels will be throughout the summer. And it looks like it’s going to be slowly dropping below full pool.”

Buddemeier says by this time next month, Lake Hartwell could be about a foot below full pool, unless we get another round of significant rainfall soon.

In May, each of the lakes, Thurmond, Hartwell, and Russell, doubled their average rainfall amounts, with Hartwell at 9.6 inches.

Hartwell’s average rainfall for May is 4.6 inches.

Lake Thurmond had 7.4 inches in May and Russell Lake had 7.1 inches.

Average rain in May for Thurmond and Russell is about 3.5 inches.

Buddemeier said that in the past 70 years, Hartwell and Thurmond have only collected more rain in May once before.

In 1976, Hartwell had 11.8 inches of rain and Thurmond has 7.8 inches in 2003.