A New Beginning

Hello to all of the Badin Lake Association.

I am Garry Kenney and I will now be representing you on the Drought Management Team (DMT) and the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin Drought Management Advisory Group (YPD-DMAG). Harry Saunders, as president of the Badin Lake Association, held these roles previously. But since Harry is out of town almost constantly during the week, I asked to represent the Badin Lake Association on these groups and Harry has agreed to this request.

I will do my best to represent your views and concerns to Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI). I started this blog to keep you informed about what and why things are happening on the Lake and to allow you to feed back your thoughts, comments and questions. I will, in turn, get answers from APGI and post them back here.

So what are these groups -- the DMT and the YPD-DMAG?

The DMT is a tactical group set up to help manage the lake levels and river flow during drought in the Yadkin river basin. As a result of the drought of 2002, a Drought Contingency Plan was formed to ensure that all stakeholders in the Yadkin Project are working together to manage drought conditions. The DMT talks at least quarterly, and more often if drought conditions begin to occur.

The YPD-DMAG is a strategic group set up to define and maintain the Low Inflow Protocol (LIP) for Yadkin-Pee Dee river basin. This describes how the river flows and lake levels should be managed during a drought. In most cases, the DMT meeting is just a notification to all interested parties when the different stages of the LIP are triggered.

Formally, the YPD-DMAG consists of one representative from each of the following organizations (to the extent that they are willing to participate): Alcoa Power Generating Inc. (APGI), Progress Energy (PE), North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR), North Carolina Division of Water Resources (NCDWR), North Carolina Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ), North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), High Rock Lake Association (HRLA), Badin Lake Association (BLA), Duke Power Company, Lake Tillery Homeowners Association, South Carolina Pee Dee River Coalition (SCPDRC) and owners of intakes that withdraw more than one million gallons of water per day from the impoundments of either the Yadkin Project (P-2197) or the Yadkin-Pee Dee Project (P-2206).

I will be posting additional information on the DMT and the LIP in the near future.

......................Garry