The Lowdown on Lake Cumberland

By BILL MARDIS Editor Emeritus
Commonwealth Journal

February 09, 2007 08:47 am

— The resource manager for Lake Cumberland said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is meeting Monday with contractors about extending boat-launching ramps into the water.
Craig Shoe, speaking to a luncheon meeting of the Somerset Kiwanis Club, remarked: “I hope we’ve got work going in a week and a half or two weeks (on extending boat ramps).” He said the contractors will be told “If you can’t go to work soon, don’t bid.”
The ramps are out of the water because the lake level is scheduled to reach 680 feet above sea level, or 43 feet below the tree line, on Monday and remain at that level throughout this year. The water has been lowered to ease pressure on Wolf Creek Dam, classified by the Corps as a “high risk” of failure.
Shoe said only two of the 48 improved ramps on the lake are usable for boat launching. These are at Grider Hill and Jamestown marinas, he noted. An improve ramp is one with at least 10 parking spaces.
According to Shoe, the Corps now has money to improve accessibility to the lake. The Corps is authorized to extend ramps at 10 marinas and four Corps sites on the lake. Ramps owned by counties and the state, like the ramp at General Burnside Island State Park, are not included in the Corps’ improvement authority.
“Our biggest goal is to get ramps in the water,” said Shoe. However, despite the promised effort, Shoe estimated that the lake will have 35-40 percent less access this summer.
Shoe called “staggering” the impact Lake Cumberland has on the Cumberland River system.
“Fifty percent of the water that goes through Nashville in the summer comes from Lake Cumberland,” Shoe noted. He said keeping Lake Cumberland at a low level will impact operations at other dams on the Cumberland River.
Shoe detailed for the Kiwanians the condition of the 55-year-old dam that resulted in the decision to lower the lake and rehabilitate the earthen and concrete structure. He said technology in the 1930s and 1940s when Wolf Creek Dam was built was not what it is today. The dam was built on limestone rock with caves and crevices. This apparently is allowing water to seep through and beneath the structure.
Leaks, reportedly much more severe than now, were discovered in the dam during the late 1960s. A concrete diaphragm was extended into the dam and 25 feet into the bedrock. It solved the leaking problem for several years but pressure reading gauges and wet spots indicate the problem has returned.
The Corps in August 2005 announced a $309 million rehabilitation of the dam that is expected to take seven years. A new diaphragm, much longer and deeper, will be inserted into the dam.
Shoe said all options, including building a new dam were considered before deciding on the second diaphragm. A new dam apparently not feasible because of cost and time involved.
“I think most people in the Corps are confident that (Wolf Creek Dam) will be there long enough for us to fix it,” Shoe concluded.

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