It’s appropriate that a photographed image of Nashville looms over Charles Dick’s shoulder as he discusses possible ramifications of the Wolf Creek Dam Crisis.

After all, the “Music City,” as it is known, is the largest city threatened by potential failure of the dam — but the resulting ripples are felt in many significant ways to communities up the Cumberland River and around the lake. Communities, that is, like those in Pulaski County.

As water manager for the City of Somerset, Dick is the caretaker for one of those key concerns: water supply. So it’s encouraging to hear that Dick sounds totally unfazed by the scenario unfolding around Lake Cumberland.

“We’re in good shape,” said Dick. “We have several feet of water above the intake at this point, and I don’t foresee any problems at long as it stays at this level” — the “level” in being the 680 feet above sea level at which the lake currently sits and expects to stay at for the remainder of the year. That’s 10 feet lower than the lake typically is at this time of year, and significantly more feet less than it is during the average summer.

However, that begs the question: What happens if it does get lower than 680 feet?



The Problem

“If the (U.S. Corps of Engineers) decides to take the lake level lower, that would be a large potential problem for us,” observed Dick.

That’s because anything significantly lower than the current lake level might well go below the water plant’s point of intake, which rests at about the 658-foot level but only safely operates down to a level of 665 feet... Instead of water being sucked out of the lake, Dick explained, water flows into a sort of concrete well, out of which it’s pumped by the Somerset Water Treatment plant, which serves almost all of Pulaski County and parts of other counties. If the lake goes below the intake tube — the well runs dry, so to speak.

But how likely is it that the lake level will drop further, most likely next year if an apparently weakened dam doesn’t show improvement?

“The probability (of going lower) is hard to get a handle on,” said Alex Godsey, Somerset City Engineer. “We didn’t really foresee the Corps going to 680 (feet). We thought that was a little bit of a low probability, but it happened.

“The path they’ve chosen is an incremental lowering of the lake,” continued Godsey. “(If a 680-foot level) creates a better situation as far as the (dam’s) seepage, then I don’t see them going any further, but if it needs to go further, I assume they’ll do what it takes to keep the public safe. That will be at the expense of tourism and the extra expense on the water users, but to save potential catastrophic damage downstream, they would go ahead and do that.”



The Solution

If that sounds alarming, realize this: Dick and Godsey have a plan — one in which they seem extremely confident.

“It’s something (Godsey) and I have been working on for the last couple of weeks — we’ve really put a lot of effort into it,” said Dick, “what we call the ‘Low Lake Level Emergency Plan’.”

That is, putting out three 10x40 floating barges with pumps on them, which would send the raw water back to the intake structure, which would in turn pull the water back to the plant. It’s something that’s been done before, in a time of drought in the early 1990s.

“With our experience with the water systems and designing pump stations, we’re ready to react,” assured Godsey.

A temporary drought period is much different, however, from the timetable that has been set for repairs to the dam — which could stretch as long as seven years by some estimations. And that could be problematic in terms of cost — Dick noted that previously the pumps ran on diesel fuel, which was extremely expensive to maintain, even at the prices consumers enjoyed 15 years ago.

“We’re trying to get away from that, not only for environmental reasons — having that much diesel on Lake Cumberland — but for the cost savings,” said Dick. “It’s unbelievable how much the pumps would use per day.”

That’s why they’d be powering the pumps via electricity this time — at a projected cost of $1 million, putting the pumps in place figures to be costly enough already.

The men poised to rescue Somerset’s water supply are looking on the plus side, though. The pumps — two of which would be used, with a third as a back-up — are a long-term solution.

“After the seven years (of potential dam repair), this is going to be a permanent situation that can be disassembled, stored, and then used again in the case of a drought or whatever,” said Dick. “It’s just an insurance policy for the future. We’re looking at a win-win situation.”

Agreed Godsey, “It’s a Homeland Security mindset — anything can happen.”



The Next Step

This is all hypothetical, of course — there’s no guarantee the Corps of Engineers will want to drop the lake lower than the water plant’s intake structure, necessitating the need for the floating pumps. However, the City of Somerset will be prepared. Dick and Godsey plan to present the plan at, hopefully, the next Somerset City Council meeting for consideration and approval.

“We’re going to bring this plan to the council and ask basically what they want to do — should we go ahead and purchase some of these larger items, such as barges and pumps, and have them here, which would make the reaction time on our part quite a bit quicker?”” said Dick. “In a couple of weeks, that’s what we plan on doing. It will be the council’s decision on what we do at that point.”

That’s thinking proactively, according to Dick, a move which puts them “ahead of the game” — even over other lake-neighboring communities.

“We’ve talked to several of the other users on the lake, and we’re easily as prepared, if not more prepared,” said Godsey. “We’re more fortunate with our orientation to the lake in that it won’t require as drastic of measures as it will to some of the (communities) on the opposite side of the lake. The terrain is so flat there that the water recedes a mile. When the water goes down and starts back to the shoreline, they’re looking at multi-million dollar projects to expand their intake.”

That said, a worst-case scenario of further lake-lowering might require more prudent action on the part of the general public.

“(In that scenario), all the lake districts would be in a precarious situation, and it would be a responsible thing to do to conserve water,” said Godsey. “People ought to be putting thought toward ways not to waste water.”

That has to do with the little things, said Dick — washing your car or watering your lawn less, or even turning off the faucet while you’re brushing your teeth.

“If everybody saved a couple of gallons of water city-wide, it would (preserve) a tremendous amount of water,” said Dick.

But don’t panic — Dick reminds that we aren’t facing a shortage yet, but merely thinking ahead.

“At this point, we just want people to know that we’re all systems go,” he said. “When any move is made on the Corps’ part, we’ll be ready to respond. I don’t believe any of our customers will experience any shortage or any outage in service. We want their water supply to be seamless.”

Seamless — at this point, the best any of us can hope for in regards to the state of Wolf Creek Dam and all those in its shadow.