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Come on in, water's fine
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | Islands in a sea of green - except the sea is mostly grass. The upper end of Lake Moomaw as seen from the bridge doesn't look much like a lake. Normal summer draw down often sees the river return to its channel at the upper end of the lake this time of the year. But there is plenty of water just downstream for boating, fishing and swimming. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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LAKE MOOMAW - Looking south from the bridge at the upper end of Lake Moomaw in late July and August, the lake looks like a slow river meandering through grassy bottomland.
The bridge, near where Back Creek joins the Jackson River, is at the southern end of Richardson's Gorge, a popular if somewhat risky shortcut to the lake. For those whose first view of the lake comes from the bridge, the lack of water in late summer can be a shock.
According to Bill Whitt, Army Corps of Engineers facility manager for the Gathright Dam, which forms the lake, this summer is about normal for lake levels. The planned seasonal draw down of the lake is between 10-15 feet. Whitt expects the lake will probably go down two to three feet more by the time the recreation season is over at the end of August.
Visitors planning to camp at any of the U.S. Forest Service campgrounds on the lake are learning to deal with the new reservation system implemented this year. Sherrie Morton, who with her husband owns and runs The Hitching Post near the lake, said the reservation system "is impacting us most."
Under the old first-come, first-served system, Morton said campers arrived during the week to claim a site even if they were really interested only in the weekend. Now with the reservation system, she thinks fewer people come to the lake during the week.
Lorraine Thomas, recreation programs manager for the Warm Springs Ranger District, said a reduction in weekday campers was something the forest service anticipated might happen with the reservation system. From the period of May 29 to July 1, Thomas said she recorded 5 percent more weekday vacancies in 2007 than in 2006.
The reduction in campers during the week "is not as dramatic as it looks like," Thomas said. The campgrounds were full every weekend.
Twenty percent of the campsites are still on a first-come basis, Thomas points out. Next year Thomas expects 31 new campsites to be available when construction is completed in the area once used for overflow camping.
Morton said even with the water down in late summer and some confusion with the reservation system, Moomaw is a "wonderful family destination." She has added a number of new photos of citation fish to the growing collection at the store counter.
Latisha McDaniel works at the marina store and agrees weekends are good. The store, leased from the forest service by Linda McDaniel, has seen some reduction in traffic during the week.
Neither McDaniel, Morton nor Thomas thinks the current lake level has any impact on the number of day visitors or campers. McDaniel remembers the summer of 2002 when the marina dock was left largely stranded on dry land.
That year, said Whitt, the lake dropped to 1,528 feet, 54 feet below normal level. The Corps tries to maintain a normal minimum pool level of 1,554 feet, said Whitt.
On the other extreme, the standard flood level for the lake is 1,610 feet. A remnant tropical storm is the most common way the lake returns to high water in late summer and early fall, Whitt said.
One of the primary functions of the dam and Lake Moomaw is to maintain the flow and water quality of the Jackson and James rivers during periods of low rainfall. Water is stored in the lake during the wetter fall, winter and spring seasons and discharged during the summer.
The normal recreation level for the lake is 1,582 feet (elevation above sea level). At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the lake level was 1,573.7 feet, 8.3 feet below normal. The Corps was releasing 276 cubic feet per second from the dam.
Only 73 cubic feet per second was flowing into the lake from the Jackson River, Back Creek and other streams. The difference of 203 cubic feet per second is drawn from the water stored in the lake.
Depending on the slope of the shoreline, a one-foot drop in the lake level can expose many feet of lake bottom. Even when the upper lake has more grass than water, there is plenty of water in the lake for recreation, said Whitt.
The normal depth of the lake at the dam is 150 feet and the lake averages 80 feet deep, Whitt said. Boaters entering the lake at the Bolar Run marina at the northern end of the 12-mile long lake should stay in the river channel until below the islands.
Whitt has been involved with the dam and lake since 1965 when he worked for a contractor doing surveys and planning. He joined the Corps soon after and has been with the facility ever since. The dam was completed and the lake began to fill in 1979.
The Corps updates the lake level, discharge temperature and flows every day. The recorded information is available by phone at (540) 965-4117.
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