Lake Keowee - Proposed Lower Lake Levels Concern Waterfront Home Owners
There’s nothing more frustrating than being thrown a curve ball after years of due diligence before you ultimately chose where to buy lakefront property. Now, a Western South Carolina lake may see lake levels drop 5 feet farther during the peak draught season, if Duke Energy gets its way with its 2016 license renewal. Lake Keowee was built in the mid 1960’s by Duke Energy and is located 30 miles west of South Carolina's chic Best Art Town in Greenville. According to our sources, over the past 30 years, the most the reservoir has ever dropped from its full pond level is less than 6 feet, even though Duke Energy has the license for decades to drop Lake Keowee down 25 feet.
When lake levels are dropped during the winter draught, permanent lakefront boat docks can become useless, leaving expensive boats lying on a dry lake bottom. This is more common with Eastern Tennessee lakes, where lake levels can drop as much as 20 feet. The solution, lakefront property owners utilize floating docks which can be rolled out to reach the waterline. We’ve also seen lake levels severely dropped when a damn’s deteriorating wall becomes breached. An example of this happened at the Cumberland Dam in Kentucky. In 2007, lake levels were dropped 40 feet during the damn repair which took years. This also happened at the Center Hill Lake damn repair in Tennessee.
We can’t say we blame Lake Keowee property owners for being alarmed. Lake Keowee is one of the most beautiful man-made emerald green Western South Carolina lakes. In realty, the fact that the negative news is out in the public, property values may already be impacted by future sales. How? Unfortunately, some sales people will quickly use anything negative they can find against a competitor, in an attempt to influence a real estate buyer. This makes me believe we will see verbal mud slinging against Lake Keowee by other lake real estate developments stating owning property on their lake is better. But wouldn’t it be more logical to assume Duke Energy’s past performance is an indication of their future behavior? Duke Energy could have dropped the lake levels down by 25 feet for the past 30 years and instead have only dropped Lake Keowee down by less than 6 feet. We hope Lake Keowee lakefront property owners and prospective buyers find peace in our logic.
Owning lakefront property on any Western South Carolina lake where someone else controls the lake levels, keeps a property owner at risk. Choosing to buy a lakefront lot that is not located in a shallow cove is the smarter choice. When purchasing lakefront property on Lake Keowee or any lake, why not plan for the possibility of a floating boat dock, in the event of the unexpected. These are just two examples of issues to be aware of, if you own lakefront property.
If you’re looking for expert guidance regarding purchasing lakefront property in South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia or North Carolina, feel free to reach out and say ‘hello’. This is just one of the ways we help buyers. Write info@communityfinder.com or call us toll free at 866.384.1799.
