LAKE HARTWELL - Lake Level Low
Lake Hartwell is at full pond when its level is at 660' sealevel. There are times, especially during the winter months (November, December, January, February) when the Corps Of Engineers will drop the level near 655'. This is to accommodate the anticipated spring rains.
In winter of 1999-2000 the lake was "drawn down" but the spring rains never came. In fact, the rain level were significantly below average over the next four years! The southeast was in a drought and the rains would not return until 2003 and 2004. The photos below tell the story. On the left is how the lake looked, from our dock looking towards the King Road bridge, in mid-2003. On the right is how it looked in the summer of 2004. Click on the photos to see an enlarged photo.
The grasses, weeds, and small trees took over the lake. Even our dock, which was on mud now, had 6' weeds around it. The photo on the left was taken a short time after the lake started to return. It took months, unitl 2004, for the lake to finally fill up again and then, hurricanes Francis and Ivan came in and dumped several feet of rain and the lake overflowed by over 2'.
Unfortunately, in 2006 the Upstate of South Carolina experienced the beginning of another drought and the lake level started to drop once again. By the end of July 2006 the lake level had dropped back down to under 654' and we found ourselves with a marsh behind us rather than a lake. The grasses quickly took over the exposed land and the ducks and Canadian Geese were in "heaven" with all the fresh grasses.
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