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Name:
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Yankee06
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Subject:
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RRainfall Article
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Date:
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7/23/2008 2:40:51 PM
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Hi Waterph,
-I thought the article was interesting too.
-As you well know, the amount that the water level in the lake falls each week is only partly due to rainfall.
-From what I understand, Alabama Power takes 0.8 of water level out of the lake each, week regardless of rainfall, to service Gorgas. That drops the lake from 510 feet in May (assuming the lake reaches full pool in winter as it did this year but not last year) down to 496 ft in October which is suppose to be low pool. However, it went down to 488 last year because of the drought which caused the lake to start lower in May 2007 (508 ft) and because more water than usual was needed for barge flow etc. so last year it went down to 488 ft instead of 496.
-I have heard the five reasons for use of Smith Lake water: power (Gorgas, hydro, etc)barge traffic, drinking water, recreation, ...hmmm, I forget teh fifth at the moment, but I have not been able to find an article or statement which explanis what percentage goes to hydro power, Gorgas, barge traffic, etc. Such a percentage breakout would be a big help to understand what is really going on.
-I've been told that the 0.8 feet drop each week from June to Oct is do to the drop in water temperature in the Warrior in the summer to a point too low to effectively cool Gorgas, so Gorgas needs the cooler waters of Lake Smith. The guy who told me this worked at Gorgas, but I still don't know if that's true, ...but it does seem to be consistent with what happens every year, with or with out a drought.
-Maybe some day , someone will level with us.
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