Thurmond Lake Levels Up

McCormick, SC—The flow is coming back to Thurmond Lake. Last weekend, park rangers noticed lake levels increased by four feet. Ranger Jim Weidman says it’s encouraging news.

Jim Weidman, Park Ranger, Lake Thurmond: “It has allowed us to basically stop any discharges through the dam.”

Weidman says the increase comes courtesy of recent rainfall. Within the past year, rangers had to limit the amount of water they were releasing from the dam. But now that levels have gone up a bit, they can relax.

Jim Wiedman: “We have a minimum steam flow requirement that has to be maintained, downstream. So, our release is up through here at 3,600 cubic feet per second in order to maintain adequate river flow for the users, downstream.”

Weidman says, even with the great news, boaters and guests need to watch out because the rise in water can hide debris.

Jim Weidman: “With the sharp rise, all these logs and trees, debris laying on the shoreline, they’ve had two and a half years to dry out. They are now going to float.”

Weidman says they need more rain to keep the levels up, and if that doesn’t happen, he says we’ll see negative effects, which include not being able to produce electricity, downstream.

Jim Weidman: “Your industrial discharges need a certain amount of river flow to meet their pollution discharge permit requirement, and stuff like that, and that’s when you get into a water quality issue.”

But for now, rangers are getting ready for the traffic that’s getting ready to hit, come April 1st.