Water Supply May Be Affected By Low Levels At Thurmond Lake

Parksville, SC—Melvin Newsome and his family love to fish at Thurmond Lake, and with the low water levels, they get to go home with some extra food.

Melvin Newsome, fisherman, “But when it’s low, the fishing is better.“

The water level at the lake is at an all time low. It’s 16 feet below it’s required setting.

Faendy Clervaud, reporting: “I’m walking along a section of Thurmond Lake which is now a dry lake bed. And all you can see are weeds and plenty of shells. All these are primary examples of how water levels have recessed throughout the years.”

This has many worried about their water supply.

Christina Westerberg, Park Ranger: “That drinking water is pulled at different levels beneath the lake surface.”

Some surrounding communities get their drinking water from the lake’s reservoir.  So, the lower the levels, the less water to go around.

Christina Westerberg: “The natural resource agencies in Georgia and South Carolina wanted us to reduce the amount of water that we’re generating. So with those reduced generation levels the reduced amount of water that’s actually going through the dam, we hope to conserve water within the reservoir.“

Officials at the lake will now reduce the amount of water that flows down the Savannah which will help conserve the amount of water that’s in the lake. But because of a particular fish species in the lake, they had to do an environmental test first. The test was to make sure there would be no adverse affects to the fish. So, until we get some healthy rain….

Christina Westerberg: “We just need to pray for rain.“

This will be a familiar site along the dam. The lowering of the water from the dam will not affect Augusta’s drinking water.