Noticed that the dam has been opened. Have repairs been completed or did they have to release water for safety reasons.
Printable View
Noticed that the dam has been opened. Have repairs been completed or did they have to release water for safety reasons.
Rough River Lake Stilling Basin repairs complete; controlled reservoir releases begin
ROUGH RIVER LAKE, Ky. — The ongoing Rough River Dam improvements and repair project of reconstructing of the stilling basin have been completed. The finishing touches included installing rip rap with grouting around the outlet works and pulling out the bulkheads and cofferdam, which was done the earlier this week. The updated and revamped outlet works and stilling basin are now ready to perform as anticipated with increased capacity to service water releases.
“This is a great example of cooperation between the State of Kentucky and the Corps of Engineers, “ said Col. Ray Midkiff, Commander, Louisville District Corps of Engineers. “We have a marvelous contractor that finished this critical work safely and ahead of schedule.”
Starting today, the Army Corps of Engineers will begin l controlled releases from Rough River Lake to bring down the lake to the winter pool elevation of 475 feet. The project staff will monitor downstream river conditions and precipitation forecasts prior to proceeding to a higher discharge rate.
On Sunday, weather and river permitting, the Corps will continue to increase the discharge to the maximum allowable release of 3500 cubic feet per second while continuing to monitor the downstream river conditions and forecasts. Any adjustments after Sunday will be controlled by the downstream river conditions and the weather forecasts.
“It’s important that we methodically bring the pool back down to normal level,” said Ron Elliott, Public Affairs Officer. “If Mother Nature cooperates, we can do this without consequence to downstream areas.
“Although the controlled releases are expected to have no or minimal impact, you can’t control weather,” said Elliott. “We want to ensure this information is communicated to people in the areas that could be affected by the releases if substantial rainfall were to occur.”
Daily lake levels at Rough River Lake can be monitored on the internet at [url]www.lrl.usace.army.mil/rrl[/url] After accessing the web page, click on Lake Levels at the bottom of the page. For questions, please contact the Public Affairs Office at 502-315-6766/6770, or visit [URL="http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil"]www.lrl.usace.army.mil[/URL]