All the mayhem here in South Carolina thanks to Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, (which btw thank you for not making landfall - if you had, I would've been composing this from my ark) resulted in a host of water topics on my mind. Specifically, I set about collecting all manner of anecdotes and factoids about the massive concrete dam that's keeping the 763,000,000,000 (that's BILLION in case you have misplaced your reading glasses) gallons, give or take, of water in Lake Murray from washing away most of Columbia 30 miles downstream.
Lake Murray is a 50,000 acre engineering behemoth, with 500 miles of shoreline. It's fed by the Saluda and Little Saluda rivers. Its dam is 1.5 miles long and more than 200 feet high. Walking or driving across the dam, you get a sense this thing is impregnable. Then you watch some video of the raging torrents generated by Joaquin's 1000-year rainfall, and you start to wonder.
The original dam was completed in 1930, made of our famous red clay and bedrock. In the early aughts there were some concerns that the original dam might breach, not because of water pressure, but due to earthquake activity, of all things. This area isn't generally known for earthquakes, but some small ones have occurred over the past several years, so better safe than sorry! The concrete backup dam was completed in 2005, and boy am I glad. If I had known that the original dam was technically 'earthen', I would've been a lot more worried for the residents of Columbia.
During Joaquin, the local utility company had to activate the floodgates for the first time since 1969. They release water all the time to generate power, but those gates are different from floodgates. Can you imagine the heart rate of the engineer who had to push the Open button for the first time in forever with the added bonus of being the midst of one of the biggest weather crises the area has ever known? I can just see him/her: eyes closed, whispering, "please please please please please" . . .
During the flood crisis, I understand they did an emergency test of the floodgate siren that scared the ever-lovin' bejeebers out of Lexington County residents within earshot. Note to SCE&G: maybe let's work on our floodgate siren test timing??
When we first moved here, we eagerly devoured Lake Murray lore. Some of my favorites:
- Some of the islands on Lake Murray were used as practice bombing targets by the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. The Doolittle Raiders honed their skills on Lake Murray and elsewhere prior to their top-secret mission: the first American air strike on a Japanese home island.
One of the B-25s recovered from Lake Murray - Bombs aren't the only thing the army dropped into the lake. In 2005 they recovered one of several bombers that crashed during practice. It's in a museum now.
- One practice raid went awry when a business owner about 15 miles west of Bomb Island didn't get the memo there was a practice run scheduled, and didn't turn off the lights when he went home that evening. Thankfully the practice bombs were more like bomblets, filled with white powder rather than explosives, and no one was hurt.
- The main engineer of the original dam, and for whom the lake is named (William Murray) had a partner on the project named (wait for it): Henry Flood.
- Speaking of: when they created the lake, several communities were flooded. Homes, businesses, churches, and cemeteries are still down there under those billions of gallons of lake water. Talk about being underwater on your mortgage.
- The second, backup dam received a prestigious engineering award in 2006, beating out other impressive projects including the Arthur Ravenel bridge in Charleston.
- Most years, one of the islands on Lake Murray is home to over 700,000 purple martins from June-September. It's such a large flock it can be seen from space. During boating season, sometimes it seems like the people-to-bird ratio is about 1:1.
I remain completely in awe of the hard work and brainpower, not to mention our tax dollars at work, that goes into these mega-projects, especially when it means keeping the lights (and the Internet) on. Nevertheless, Mother Nature sure does find interesting ways to remind us who's really the boss. Stay safe out there, folks.
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