Corps Tests Lake Hartwell Spillway Wednesday
Traffic on U.S. 29 in Hart County and in Anderson County is back to normal today, but it was a different story Wednesday afternoon as thousands packed the area around the Hartwell Dam to watch the test opening of the Hartwell Dam spillways.
People came from all over North Georgia and the Upstate to witness the test, which has not happened since January 2010.
Many visitors were forced to park in the Big Oaks Recreation area near the dam and walk over a mile to the dam to view the sight.
At the dam, visitors were packed three and four deep along the Savannah River while others on the South Carolina side sat on the grass above the dam to observe the 12 spillways as they opened one by one.
The U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers is testing the spillway gates at its three dams on the Upper Savannah River this week and plans to test the dams at J Strom Thurmond and Russell Lakes today.
Corps spokesman Billy Birdwell said yesterday despite the opening of the Hartwell Lake spillways Tuesday morning and again yesterday afternoon, the lake level is still well above full pool.
“We’re trying to get it down a ways so we can have a little extra storage space in there (Hartwell Lake),” Birdwell said. “But of course we’ve got some flood storage left in Russell and at J Strom Thurmond as well. They’re getting inflows too, independently of what’s coming out of Hartwell from other tributaries. So, we’re just managing this very carefully.”
This was the scene in the Gumlog Cove of Lake Hartwell last fall as the drought continued to hang on. Today, that cove is over capacity.
And Birdwell said that management of lake levels, while often criticized especially during times of drought, is what is keeping people and the areas around the reservoir lakes safe.
“This is a good way to show why we manage for 660ft msl. That’s our guide curve most of the year,” Birdwell said. “There are those that advocate we raise that guide curve (so there’s enough water during times of drought). This is a real good example of why we don’t. The reservoirs can go up very dramatically, very fast.”
The test at Russell Dam will be this morning from 8:30a to 11a, and the opening of the gates at Thurmond Dam will be this afternoon from 1:30p to 4p.
However, on Tuesday, the Corps announced it will continue to release water from Hartwell Lake Dam spillways, as well as from J Strom Thurmond and Russell Lakes, at regular intervals until all three lakes are back down to their full pool guide curves.
The public may observe the tests from designated viewing and parking areas at each location. Parking is limited at all locations.
Due to the rapid increase in water flow during the test, the corps advises swimmers and boaters to avoid the area immediately downstream from the dams following the tests.