Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 4:03:14 PM

489 and rising with storms coming tonight!  Flooding everywhere is confounding the problem.  Good luck all.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 4:35:15 PM

Hmmm....the current chart on the Lake Martin website is way behind.  It still shows the level at 2 feet below full pool.  Looking at my camera of the lake and it looks full to the brim.

Name:	Rooster -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 5:16:24 PM

Believe chart is correct.  489 is 2 ft below new rule.  Someone correct me if wrong.  Have a great day!

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 5:45:48 PM

Level is 489.09.  Notice from power company was sent out that gates are now operational.  There is a storm tonight.  The level came up rapidly so they have to take precautionary measures despite the flooding downstream!  

Name:	PTClakefan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 6:41:43 PM

I just came up from doing some cleanup down by my dock.  Looks like it is about 1.5 feet or so lower than normal summer pool level, which of course, is roughly .5 feet below true full pool level.  Hopefully we don't get too much rain tonight and tomorrow.

Name:	wix -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/12/2020 6:55:49 PM (updated 2/12/2020 8:21:52 PM)

Go to the home page on this website and click just below the lake level and it’ll show a graph of historical water level and will be current.  Passed thru Tallassee yesterday and 1/3 of flood gates were open on Thurlow and looked like all were open on upstream dam.  

Name:	F1Fan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/13/2020 1:29:53 PM

Based on flow rates on Smart Lakes app they've opened a second gate now, plus all 4 generators. That is a LOT of water headed downstream! 

Name:	PTClakefan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/13/2020 3:09:13 PM

I drove past the dam on my way back from Montgomery a few minutes ago and the water was pouring into the river on the other side of the dam.  You could do some serious whitewater rafting there today.

Name:	ChrisCraft -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 6:51:28 AM

All the more reason the winter pool drop date should have never been manipulated. Had the plug been pulled after Labor Day, as it had been done for so many decades, this situation would not be precarious.  Should have left well-enough alone..Imho.

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 8:30:06 AM

I disagree.  The bottom level has been achieved several times during the off season.  Following your logic they should have kept the 480 drop.  But that resulted in an unfilled lake during drought years.  The new procedure has worked well.  

Name:	HARRY -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 8:52:28 AM

Aren't we glad you're not in charge of unplug day

Name:	ChrisCraft -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 1:50:27 PM

Winter drawdown is too short. Period. Forgetting the '07 drought...how often has the current situation happened in contrast?

Name:	Lifer -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 2:11:04 PM

About every year since forever.  It is drawn down in order to have storage for flood rains. APCO manages it quite well.  Is you house or property on Lake Martin or immediately downstream underwater?  Sorry if the new rule curve doesn't fit with your schedule better but it is sure working better since the drought of '07 and the new 'rule' implimentation.

Name:	Carlson -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/14/2020 3:53:45 PM (updated 2/14/2020 3:55:56 PM)

Amen!  Or the lake of 1985 when the high level reached 485 meaning no summer activities.  There were several years that were the same before this new process.  Next year goes down 10 feet, so enjoy whatever project you had planned

Name:	RodBillett -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/18/2020 10:15:16 AM

November of 2021 is when the lake will go down 10'  not 2020.

Name:	BAJ -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/18/2020 10:59:04 PM

That was 1986 and yes, the rains of Memorial Day Weekend were the first in almost two months, and the lake level never got close to full. But "no lake activities?" Not even close to true! Adaptations were needed; by August we were tying the stern to the dock and anchoring the boat well offshore. But my friends and family probably put in more lake-hours that summer than any before or since (and I have been on the lake literally since I was born, which was in 1961.) In fact, that was the summer I learned to barefoot, and something like that doesn't happen without spending hours on the water.

The conditions were even worse in 2007, but again, "no lake activities" couldn't be further from the truth. We have a very deep lake; letting low water keep a person off the lake is more a condition of that person being unable to adapt to the conditions than it is of water levels being "too low."

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/20/2020 10:11:09 AM

For those up sloughs we left the lake after the July 4th weekend and never came back.  We were high and dry and had to pull our boats out of the water.  And yes, we could have trailered to use the lake but we would have to take it in and out every day as there was no place to park the boat over night.  For us it wasn't worth the hassle and we never went back until the next summer.

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/20/2020 10:13:22 AM

For those up sloughs we left the lake after the July 4th weekend and never came back.  We were high and dry and had to pull our boats out of the water.  And yes, we could have trailered to use the lake but we would have to take it in and out every day as there was no place to park the boat over night.  For us it wasn't worth the hassle and we never went back until the next summer.

Name:	RodBillett -	Reply
Subject:	For Carlson
Date:	2/20/2020 1:49:23 PM

Carlson - The information I posted in this and other threads was provided to me by Rhett Hanks from Alabama Power.  I got tired of all the misinformation being thrown around here, I read the License agreement and then emailed Rhett because I was still a bit unclear about the wording.  his response was

"Thank you for emailing. The water level should be drawn down to 481msl between November of 2021, and March of 2022. This is assuming that weather permits."

Here is the content of my email and the relevant sections of the license

Name:	BAJ -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/20/2020 5:49:02 PM

Like I said: "letting low water keep a person off the lake is more a condition of that person being unable to adapt to the conditions than it is of water levels being "too low."" That's not a crime, of course; there's not even anythiing wrong with it. But it was your choice. You COULD have adapted and continued to enjoy the lake; you just CHOSE not to. Some of us thought it added a different element to that summer's enjoyment; I know I found some underwater structures that I had no idea existed. Going through that every year would require permanent changes, but for that year -- and the occasional years before and after -- it was fun, in its own way. (And I understand about being back in sloughs; like I said, tying up to our dock was impossible by mid-July. So we didn't tie up to our dock. But we didn't put the boat away, either.)

Name:	MartiniMan -	Reply
Subject:	Lake Martin gates at the dam now operational
Date:	2/28/2020 4:19:30 PM

Don't disagree but based on what we heard from the locals a lot of businesses didn't make it through that summer.  So the issue is more than just whether folks can adapt, but will they?  Given what I heard and I think you experienced, most people will just go do something else like we did.  The hassle of trailering the boat every day was just not worth it to us and apparently to lots of other property owners.  We didn't suffer but local businesses that rely on summer weekenders sure did.