The Low Inflow Protocol

The Low Inflow Protocol (LIP) specifies how the lake levels and the river flows are to be managed during a drought in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin. The LIP is important to Badin Lake. It is important because that is why our lake was drained down to five feet below full pond during June of 2008. The lake was lowered another foot and a half during July and August before we received the significant rain from tropical depression Faye on August 27.

Don’t get me wrong. The LIP is not all bad. In fact, it is a good thing. It’s just that it needs some fixing.

The LIP was developed in response to the severe drought that culminated in the summer of 2002. During that drought, the Badin Lake water level stayed up to no more than three feet below full pond until the beginning of July 2002 before it began to drop rather quickly. The reason it stayed up is because Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI) dropped the High Rock Lake level to satisfy the downstream flow requirements of their existing license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). High Rock was already down 18 feet before Badin Lake went below three feet down. High Rock Lake subsequently went down to about 24 feet below full and Badin Lake went down to about 12 feet below full before we began receiving significant rain in September.

The LIP is specified as part of the Relicensing Settlement Agreement (RSA) submitted by APGI to FERC to obtain a 50-year license to continue to operate the Yadkin River dams – the Yadkin Project. The RSA has not yet been approved by FERC so, technically, the LIP is not yet in effect.

But APGI operated the lakes according to the LIP during the summer of 2008. Instead of keeping Badin Lake within three feet of full and draining High Rock Lake down to satisfy the downstream river flows (as they did in years past during a drought), APGI kept the High Rock and Badin drawdowns within one foot of each other (specified in the LIP), and they lowered High Rock down to four feet below full and Badin to five feet below full before triggering stage 0 of the LIP to reduce the downstream river flow below Falls dam and begin conserving water. Yes, I said that right. Instead of keeping Badin Lake within three feet of full while they lowered High Rock, the LIP specifies that Badin Lake must be lowered more than High Rock. All this before the LIP is triggered to begin conserving water. In fact, while the inflow into High Rock Lake (as measured at the USGS stream gage at Yadkin College) averaged 722 cubic feet per second (cfs) during June 2008, APGI was releasing an average of 1400 cfs downstream from Falls dam. And you wondered why Lake Tillery stayed full while we suffered.

Now, APGI says that we are better off than before! They say that the old license had Badin Lake going down to 6.6 feet below full and the change to five feet down is an improvement. Well, it may have said something about 6.6 feet down somewhere in the old license, but we never saw it in reality. We did see five feet down last summer! In fact, APGI has previously stated that Badin Lake would be maintained between zero and two feet below full pond, and only in rare conditions allow it to drop as low as three feet. The statement of this policy was posted on APGI, Yadkin Division website at http://www.alcoa.com/yadkin/en/lakes/narrows.asp until sometime in 2007 when it was removed without notification or reason.

What can we do about the LIP? There are two changes that I see should be made to the LIP based on the operating experience of 2008, and both have to do with reducing the downstream flow rate earlier in the drought in order to begin conserving water in the APGI lakes. One is to invoke stage 0 of the LIP based only on the drought status and the inflow rate of the Yadkin River and not make it dependent on the lake levels of High Rock or Badin Lake. The other change is to allow Badin Lake to drop no more than three feet down, independent of other conditions, before triggering stage 0 of the LIP. These changes should be good for recreation, for the fish, for the wildlife, and for the downstream water users in South Carolina. Yes, the changes afford APGI a little less flexibility in when they can generate power in a drought. But the same amount of water will still flow through their turbines.

But to modify the LIP we need to get the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin Drought Management Advisory Group (YPD-DMAG) together to work out and agree on any changes. The LIP specifies that the YPD-DMAG be convened by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources (NCDWR) and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) at least once every five (5) years to review and, if necessary, update the LIP. It also specifies that, regardless of the Low Inflow Condition, coordination will include a meeting convened annually by NCDWR during April to discuss issues relevant to the LIP.

So is NCDWR going to hold the April meeting where we can discuss changes to the LIP? Answer – No! NCDWR says that the RSA is not approved and the LIP is part of the RSA so, although they are ready to assume the role of calling together a meeting they can’t do that until the RSA is approved by FERC.

So, since the RSA is APGI’s document (that they submitted to FERC), can’t APGI call together the YPD-DMAG to modify the LIP and submit the modified RSA to FERC? Yeah, right! They already have everyone signed off on the LIP and are not about to reopen it now. They have only the water quality certification to get from the North Carolina Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ) and they are good to go with the license approval.

So…………? If we play by the book, it looks like we have to wait for the license approval before we can expect any renegotiation of the LIP. That is unless FERC pays attention to all the cards and letters asking them to withhold approval of the license until the LIP is changed because the people of Badin Lake were not adequately represented in formulating the initial version of the LIP. Maybe FERC will tell APGI that they must call together the YPD-DMAG, reconsider the LIP and submit a revised RSA before they will approve. What do you think?

You can download the entire RSA (5 megabyte pdf file) and the LIP contained within it from the Alcoa website at Relicensing Settlement Agreement (RSA).

……………………………Garry