One of the primary reasons Hartwell Dam was approved and built in the 1950’s was for flood control. Under normal operations, water in the channel will flow through the power plant to generate electricity. But in times of heavy rainfall, like we have had over the last 2 months, the dam also has spillways which allow more water to be released than the power plant will allow (5.8 million gallons per minute with the 12 floodgates open one foot). For only the third time in the dam’s history, the spillways were used last week to lower the level of the lake to allow more “room” for future rains. This is a good thing, because we received another two inches of rain this week. Lakefront buyers often ask me if they have to worry about flooding. I am happy to respond that being close to the lake is actually one of the safest places you can be, thanks to the engineering that went into the construction of our river system.