LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A panel of national experts who recommended the level of Lake Cumberlad be lowered by 70 feet to relieve pressure on its leaking dam say they later agreed to a less-drastic drop—with a condition.

The independent panel of experts reports the level of the lake needs to be constantly monitored.

Officials are in the midst of a 309 (m) million dollar repair project to control seepage under the dam’s mile-long earth embankment, which holds back the largest manmade lake in the eastern part of the country.

The Army Corps of Engineers has said Wolf Creek Dam is in “urgent” need of repair, since a failure could flood Kentucky cities along the Cumberland River and into Tennessee.

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