This is an OFFICIAL WCID announcement, issued in coordination with an official press release from GBRA attached at the bottom of this email.
This is the news we have all been waiting for!!
Anyone on the lake can already see that after the recent rains, Lake Dunlap is finally full! As GBRA’s Press Release notes, ”Lake Dunlap has now reached its full capacity, with a lake level of approximately 12 feet at the dam, and hydroelectric operations are being placed back into service.”
Sometime in the next few hours, all the gates will have been raised to their fully upright positions. No water will be passing over or through them at that point, so the downstream side of the dam will be dry. This is what normal will look like going forward.
In the next few hours, all water headed downstream will be flowing through the canal and then through the hydroelectric generation facility. When the flow into Dunlap is sufficient to turn the turbines, which will be most of the time, it will be used to generate electricity. Fully 100% of the revenue brought in by that generation will be used to help pay for our dam, continuing until the bonds have been repaid.
It’s been 1,631 long hard days since the failure on May 14, 2019. What we have done required an unbelievable amount of effort from so many people, but we did it!!
Just about 10 days shy of four and one-half years — that is what it took to get here. Longer than it typically takes to get your kids through college! While it happened in record time compared to any other similar project we can find, for those of us living here, and living through it, it has been a very long haul.
It took so much from so many to do what needed to be done, but here we are! Back in 2019, few of us knew the first thing about dams or water districts, but working together, we learned, and by gosh, we did it! This project has been like no other in so many ways. Bringing this community together to accomplish this massive thing—really against all odds—has been a very special thing to have been part of. October 31, 2023.
No doubt aBOO!’t it. Halloween 2023 will forever be remembered as the day we finally got Lake Dunlap back. It’s kinda spooky how the key dates on this project have lined up!
And now — Lake Dunlap is back, baby! Shout it from the rooftops!! Woo hoo!!!
It’s a GREAT Day on Lake Dunlap!
Let’s all go have a great Halloween to celebrate! Let’s make this year the start of a brand-new lakeside tradition!
This message was approved by the Lake Dunlap WCID Board of Directors.
The Lake Dunlap WCID Board is committed to keeping District Members accurately and transparently informed about WCID business and actions, and to provide timely updates on state of the dam and the lake as needed