States agree to study lake water levels
An agreement signed Wednesday will clear the way for a study to be done on the water levels in our lakes.
WEBVTT A NEW STUDY THAT LOOKS AT HOW WATER IS MANAGED IN OUR LAKES IS NOW UNDERWAY... AND SOME HOPE IT'LL HELP DURING TIMES OF DROUGHT. NEWS 4'S MANDY GAITHER IS LIVE AND LOCAL ALONG LAKE HARTWELL... MANDY...HOW COULD THIS STUDY HELP LAKE LEVELS? IN TIMES OF DROUGHT THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS MANAGES WATER LEVELS BASED ON A DROUGHT PLAN THAT'S FEDERALLY MANDATED. IN ORDER TO CHANGE THAT PLAN A STUDY HAS TO BE DONE. TODAY AN AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED TO DO JUST THAT. "this is a long time coming appreciate your patience." WITH THE SIGNING OF THAT AGREEMENT...IT'S OFFICIAL. THERE WILL BE A NEW STUDY DONE ON OUR LAKES... LOOKING AT TWO THINGS... THE MINIMUM OUTFLOW OF WATER THAT CAN BE RELEASED DURING A DROUGHT... AND HOW LONG THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS CAN MAINTAIN THAT FLOW. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS WASN'T LOST ON HERB BURNHAM.. AS PRESIDENT OF THE LAKE HARTWELL ASSOCIATION... HE'S BEEN PUSHING FOR YEARS TO HAVE THIS STUDY... after being -- and gone through the two major droughts that we've just gone through we really need to make some changes and i think i see the beginning of some real significant changes in this basin SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY AND GEORGIA GOVERNOR NATHAN DEAL VOWED TO WORK TOGETHER ON THE ISSUE OF WATER SHARING... HOPING TO STAY OUT OF THE COURTROOM. our water resources are important for economic development they're important for quality of life they're important to make sure we're protecting our natural resources and i think today shows we've come a long way" THE STUDY WILL START IMMEDIATELY AND TAKE A LITTLE OVER A YEAR TO COMPLETE. THE NEXT STEP IS A FULL COMPREHENSIVE STUDY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ALLOWING THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS ON WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE SAVANNAH RIVER BASIN. MANDY GAITHER WYFF NEWS 4 LIVE ALONG LAKE HARTWELL. BACK IN GREENVILLE... POLICE