Reservoir Lakes Reach Drought Level 1 Status

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

All three reservoir lakes in the Upper Savannah River basin are now in Drought Level 1 status.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made that declaration on Monday.Earlier this month, the Corps said it expected to see extremely low lake levels this fall because of the lack of rainfall this summer.

“Our entering Drought Level 1 was not a surprise. It’s typical for this time of the year. While we’ve been having some rain, we haven’t had enough,” said Corps spokesman Billy Birdwell. “It is typical for a late summer decline in reservoir levels so this was not unexpected.”

As of Wednesday afternoon Hartwell Lake’s level stood at 655.52 ft above mean sea level, about five feet below full summer pool.

Thurmond Lake was at 325.88 – down from a guide curve of 330.00 and Russell Lake’s level was 475. Right now, Hartwell inflows are 22 percent of normal, and at Thurmond they are 19 percent of normal.

Using the current conditions in the Savannah River Basin as indicators, the Corps is expecting to reach drought trigger level 2 by October, according to Corps spokesman Russell Wicke.

“Drought Level 2 occurs at 652 msl,” he said. “I would say that’s a reasonable expectation that we would be right around 652, which is about four feet below the winter draw down.”

The Corps has been monitoring an El Nino effect currently moving through the South Pacific across India, Asia, and Australia. An El Nino could mean significantly higher rain and snowfall amounts during the winter months for our area.

Birdwell said the El Nino has weakened somewhat, but the Corps is still expecting significant precipitation this winter.

“We are expecting some additional rains in the late fall/early winter when rains typically return,” he said. “The El Nino, although it may be lessening out in the Pacific, it’s still there. So, whenever we get an El Nino that usually means we get more rain here in the Southeastern U.S. So the stronger the El Nino the more likely we are to get rain, and significant amounts of rain.”

Birdwell said the Corps will continue to monitor the current El Nino effect and make adjustments to their predictions as needed.