How water resources are to be shared

A new agreement signed last week in Elberton, Georgia spells out how water resources are to be shared among the Duke Energy and U-S Army Corps reservoirs in the Savannah River Basin. The Army Corps of Engineers describes the operating agreement as increasing drought tolerance within the watershed and promoting conservation efforts. The agreement encompasses Duke’s Keowee-Toxaway Project (Lakes Jocassee and Keowee) and Bad Creek Reservoir, and the Corps’ reservoirs (Lakes Hartwell, Russell and Thurmond.) The new agreement supercedes a 1968 agreement put in place to ensure proportionate use of water resources during drought. One new provision allows Duke to make flow releases to support downstream water needs deeper into severe droughts than the 1968 agreement.