01/25/2007

Associated Press

Kentucky officials want to use tactics such as a live Webcam to show that Lake Cumberland is still ready for tourists despite the Army Corps of Engineers' work to lower the water level and avoid potentially catastrophic flooding.

State officials held a meeting Wednesday for southern Kentucky residents, hoping to reassure business people worried their income might be at stake.

"This is going to create a lot of problems for us," said J.D. Hamilton, owner of Lee's Ford Marina Resort in Pulaski County.

The Corps of Engineers announced this week that Wolf Creek Dam, which impounds the giant lake, is considered at high risk of failing. The corps is keeping the water level low this summer to ease pressure on the structure while beginning repairs.

The regional tourism industry draws hundreds of thousands of visitors and creates an economic impact of more than $150 million in Pulaski, Russell, Wayne and Clinton counties, state officials said.

Officials of the state Commerce Cabinet said the risk of the dam's failure is slight and that steps are being taken to help minimize economic fallout for the region's tourism industry.

"This is not a panic situation from a safety standpoint," Cabinet Secretary George Ward said. "Lake Cumberland is open for business, and will be open for business this summer."

The water level will be 680 feet above sea level this summer instead of 723 feet. That means the lake will have a surface area of about 35,000 acres instead of the normal summer size of 50,000, Ward said.

Even at the lower level, however, Lake Cumberland will still be larger than most. It will be larger than nearby Dale Hollow Lake, for instance, Ward said.

Cheryl Hatcher, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Tourism, said the state must aggressively convey the message that the lake will still be usable. Among the steps being considered, she said, is to provide live Internet views of the lake to reassure people.

Some speakers at the meeting pleaded for financial assistance to extend boat ramps and otherwise accommodate their businesses to the lowered lake. Several city and county officials from the area said municipal water intakes may need to be reconfigured to ensure adequate supplies.

"If boat ramps are not extended, tourists will leave and they won't come back," warned Russell County Judge-Executive Ronnie McFall. "We can't wait. It needs to be done immediately."

Ward said the state is evaluating which ramps can be extended to provide additional access to the lake.

Lake-area business operators told Ward they've been swamped with calls since the lake level was announced. Many people had the incorrect impression that the dam is in imminent danger of collapse, or that the lake will be tiny this summer.

"The thing that's going to hurt business is all the wild rumors," said Tony Sloan, whose family has been involved with the Grider Hill Dock in Clinton County since the 1950s.

He recalled two previous occasions when the lake was lowered temporarily.

"It didn't hurt that much," Sloan said. "The end of the world is not coming. You'll survive it. Just hang in there."