Corps Update on Lake Cumberland

Commonwealth Journal

July 23, 2008 06:53 am

— Tom Hale of the U.S. Corps of Engineers addressed members of the Somerset Rotary Club during their weekly luncheon Monday. According to Hale, Lake Cumberland is "on the road to recovery." He said visitation to the lake is 15-16 percent higher than in 2007 when the Corps announced it needed to draw the lake down to 680 feet — or 43 feet below summer pool — during a massive rehabilitation project of Wolf Creek Dam. He assured the local civic club that all efforts are being made to increase the lake's water level as quickly and safely as possible. He added there is no truth to recent rumors that the lake would soon be drawn down another 20-plus feet as a result of faulty measurement readings at the ailing dam. Failure of levees in New Orleans during post-Katrina in 2005 put a lot of pressure on the Corps to address Wolf Creek Dam, he noted. "We try our best to be fully honest (with the media). We have no secrets," he said. Despite its current woes, Lake Cumberland generates $159 million to local economies it serves each year, Hale said.

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