Back to Normal for the Time Being

We got some good news from the DMT meeting this afternoon – specific targets for the lake level in the near term. APGI has a target to bring Badin Lake up to 1.75 feet below full over the next week and to 1.5 feet below full by mid-month. There may be some fluctuations on weekends because they expect to have divers checking the dams then, and they have to completely shut off the flow while the divers are in the water.

The long term concern is that this is just a “bump in the road” with the significant rain we got over the last four days. Although we (at Badin Lake) got about 4.5 inches of rain, most of it went to our South and East. The upper Yadkin River basin to our North-West didn’t get nearly as much, and long-term prospects are still for below-normal precipitation.

……………………Garry

Badin Lake Level Down

The lake dropped to more than four feet down this past week. Sorry I didn’t get a warning out, but I did not have any information on what to expect until this afternoon. It turns out that APGI is not going to honor their statement (see my post dated August 12, 2009 below) that Badin Lake will not go below three feet down until High Rock is six feet down. No reason was given for why not.

APGI also just posted an update on their Yadkin Project Relicensing blog (http://www.yadkinproject.blogspot.com/ ).

As of Thursday, the Yadkin watershed is now officially in a drought status (D1 - Moderate Drought) with prospects of continuing dry weather. Although we are now getting some rain, it will likely not be enough to fill up the lakes and keep us from going below three feet down for the long term. So if you have a boat that needs to get off your lift or out of the water or otherwise secured before winter, you had better do it as soon as the lake comes up enough to do it.

I will be attending a Drought Management Team (DMT) meeting this coming Thursday. I will let you know if any new information comes out of the meeting.

………………..Garry