Is Lake Martin’s full pool 490 or 491? I get some of the best ideas for blog posts from my readers and buyers around Lake Martin. Recently someone emailed me with a question regarding the new rule curve for Lake Martin and I thought I’d answer it here.
Q: I recently read your article on the Lake Martin Voice site about the winter lake level going to 483 feet instead of 480 feet as in previous years. Lower down the page in your web site article, you have posted a link to the Alabama Power announcement made in April of 2015 for this new low lake level policy. In the Alabama Power news release article, it states the new low lake level is going to be 484 feet during the winter draw down time. It states also that the technical high lake level is 491 feet in that same Alabama Power April 2015 news release/announcement.
Please let me know what your final understanding is on the new low lake level height. You may want to clarify this subject on your site.
A: The one foot difference is the difference between the unit of measure you use. It’s a difference of “sea level” and “martin datum.” The new level in winter is going to be seven feet below full pool. That’s for sure. Whether you call full pool 490 or 491 will depend on whether you call winter pool 483 or 484. Either way it’s a seven foot drop. Most of the current technical Alabama Power papers refer to full pool as 491. However they also refer to full pool as 490 on their app – Alabama Power Shorelines. Full pool at 490 is what most everyone around here uses, so that’s the unit of measure I use when I talk about full pool. Both are correct. And both yield a seven foot drop in the future.
Great question!
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