Recent rains have brought Smith Mountain Lake back to full pond, allowing Appalachian Power Company to return to normal discharge levels.
The lake returned to its full-pond level of 795 feet on Jan. 10. That level had been as low as 789 feet in early December.
“It took only one month for the project to recover from its lowest recorded level in 2008,” said John Shepelwich, an Appalachian Power Company spokesman, in an e-mail Monday.
Smith Mountain Lake and Leesville Lake together form the Smith Mountain Project, which generates hydroelectricity for Appalachian Power.
Drought conditions had led the company to reduce water flows out of the project last summer.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in July approved a variance cutting back normal discharges into Leesville Lake by a minimum daily average of 150 cubic feet per second.
The company notified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the recent change in levels in a Jan. 16 letter.
Teresa Rogers, the company’s reservoir manager, said in the letter a final report would be issued in 30 days in accordance with a variance extension period FERC granted in September.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement