News on dropping the lake 30 MORE feet

680 is a lot of water! Just as one of the previous posters had pointed out, 680 is only 10 ft. lower than normal winter pool, and the pictures you all are seeing are pictures of the lake during a normal winter. This is not the end of the world or the end of tourism, this is usual stuff, just the only difference is that its going to look like this all year, not just for December-Feburary when noone usually pays any attention to it.
650 is still A LOT of water. An easy way to think of it is this, 650 is about 90 ft. below usual summer pool. C-Land is, on average, a 130 ft. deep lake. Therefore, if the Corp does take it down to 650, convential wisdom would tell you that C-Land would be a 40 ft. deep lake, on average. True, its a HUGE drop, but not the end of society! An average depth of 40 ft. is MUCH deeper than the average depths of Nolin (about 20), Green (about 25), Barren (about 25), Taylorsville, Barkley, Kentucky, and just about every other lake in Kentucky with the notable exceptions of Laurel, Dale, and Herrington. That being said, walleye survive in "relitivley" shallow Green and Nolin just fine, as do Striper in Kentucky, and the Ohio and Tennesee Rivers, that are more shallow than C-Land as well. Also, the summer heat will not zap the fishing. If the corp does take the lake to 650, they will have to keep the dam on full flow all the time, which will add current, and therefore, cooler, more oxygenated water to the lake.
Not only, at 650, will this still be a deep lake, but it will stay a HUGE lake. It will drop to about 20,000 surface acres, which is still, two times larger than any lake fully in KY. (Barren is second, it has a surface area of 10,000 acres.)
And just as they did at 680, they will extend the ramps at 650. Just a little more gravel and elbow grease will be needed.
All in all, this will be, if it does happen, a shock. But just look at the magnitude of this lake, and you will see just how this lake will survive.
To adress some other concerns, 610 is impossible, unless they remove all turbines from the dam. 610 is close to the old river channel, I think the tailwater is around 595, and I doubt they would ever drop it to 610 anyways. That would leave all the marina and the gas lines high and dry, which would produce another danger. Also, the old river channel, is undoubtedly, silted in, so at 610 the channel would probally be non-navagable, which is anohter reason I'm sure they wont drop it that far.

I live and work on Cumberland, and the COE has said the same thing all along, that if pressure increases greatly on the dam sensors or if sink holes start developing, they will take the lake down. But these things haven't happened and I hope and pray that they wont. At 680 the marinas, guides, lake communities etc. can get by. At 650, this end of the state would be destroyed. Lake communities would be completly wiped out. I don't know what I would do for a living, but I would sure be back in the job market. Towns around the lake would have no water intake, electricity could not be produced locally, and I think the fishing as we know it would be gone. The best trout fishery in the southeast would be a memory. I don't think the COE will go to that extreme unless the dam is facing eninent failure. Fingers are crossed and prayers are said.

Do you think investors will start buying up property at the low values if people start selling out??? Once the repairs are 100% complete in the next seven years, the property values are sure to go back up! Just a thought and possibility......it could be the face of Cumberland will change forever as a result of this problem...............

I can't picture taking 15 years to get the fish back, at least not the bass. With all the shoreline vegetation and hopefully structure that we will be allowed to place, i think 3-4 years post refilling, it will be the best bass fishing on earth.

Art Carney - I have been looking for property down around Cumberland "somewhere" for the past two or three years...not looking for one of those gated communities but for more of a "shack" type of structure with enough yard to build a boat shed...I'm like you in that I was wondering if some folks might start considering the idea of selling out....depending on age and where a person is at in their life, seven years could be a long time to wait. For now I'll continue watching the market and keeping my eyes open.

[quote=mhall;286969]I still say people are in no danger down stream at 680 as long as a complete dam failure doesn't occur, and how many of those have you ever heard of in your lifetime.[/quote]

I'm just curious what you base your "prediction" on?

Do you work for the Corps?

Look up the Teton Dam Failure at:

[url]http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/faculty/sylvester/Teton%20Dam/welcome_dam.html[/url]

That is the most memorable and most talked about dam failure that I know of. It was never rebuilt!



Also, go to this site for answers to questions, weekly updates from the Corps of Engineers, and information pertaining to the project. It's the best site I've found about the project!

[url]http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/pao/issues/WOLcommo/weekly_progress.htm[/url]

I was trying to recall which dam it was that failed. I remember seeing that on TV show once. I thought of that dam failure when I read about the Cumberland Dam seepage though the foundation. When the dam goes it goes FAST!

A tiny hole can increase in size fast if there is a lot of pressure on the water.

Today we use high pressure water to CUT ROCK and STEEL with computer controlled jets. You must understand the amount of water pressure that a column of water 100 ft tall exerts.

The end of the article says it best. "Nature Bats last" In another 1000 years none of these dams will be here.



[quote=artcarney_agr;287081]Look up the Teton Dam Failure at:

[url]http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/faculty/sylvester/Teton%20Dam/welcome_dam.html[/url]

That is the most memorable and most talked about dam failure that I know of. It was never rebuilt!



Also, go to this site for answers to questions, weekly updates from the Corps of Engineers, and information pertaining to the project. It's the best site I've found about the project!

[url]http://www.lrn.usace.army.mil/pao/issues/WOLcommo/weekly_progress.htm[/url][/quote]