Science Keeps Water Flowing

By Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

May 11–Falls Lake wasn’t just built to serve Raleigh and its water customers.

It’s there for fish to swim in and for other creatures to drink. It’s for boaters and fishermen to enjoy. Falls Lake ensures there is safe water in the Neuse River for communities to pull drinking water from, and it aims to help reduce damage from floods.

So when there’s a drought, the lake’s manager, the Army Corps of Engineers, can’t just close the gates to keep the water in.

Instead, there is a lot of science to how Falls Lake works. Careful calculations and conversations ensure that the right amount of water moves downstream.

Every day, a satellite beams information about the lake and climate to a team of Corps hydrologists in Wilmington. They gather information about how much water is in the lake, how much water Raleigh is using each day, how long it will take for water to get downstream and other information to determine how much water should be released.

During the month of April, in response to the drought, the Corps was allowed to reduce its normal flows from the lake to keep as much water in it as possible.

“There’s people working to make the best of this bad situation,” said Tom Freeman, operations manager of Falls Lake. “Folks aren’t sitting on their hands waiting for it solely to rain … for things to get better.”

Freeman quashes a common misconception about the lake. No, it never releases water in anticipation of a hurricane or heavy rains, he said.

The Corps doesn’t want to send a bunch of water down the Neuse to an area that might get deluged by rainfall. Plus, forecasts constantly change anyway.

“We don’t respond to forecasts,” he said.

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