SoKY rivergoers question low river levels

U.S. Army Corps addresses dam removal concerns

RICHARDSVILLE, Ky. – SOKY’s rivers are shallow, and many of you have felt the effects of losing that impounded river system firsthand.

Locals who live on the Barren River & Green River have seen the water lower throughout the year…some residents simply frustrated, others pointing fingers towards the Rivers’ dam removals.

“It makes it difficult for people to live here,” said Richardsville resident Gus Suarez. “Something that people enjoy, boating, fishing and stuff like that, it won’t be there anymore.”

Some of you have expressed concern with how much Barren River Lock and Dam 1, and Green River Lock and Dams 5 and 6 played into these low water levels, so News 40 spoke to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address your concerns one by one.

For starters, the Army Corps says it was not them, but Congress who ordered them to remove the dams with the Water Resources Development Act of 2016.

Barren River Lock & Dams Removal Project Manager Chris Wernick said, “It wasn’t like the Corps decided we were going to go out there and get rid of these dams. It was telling us what we had to do to those facilities.”

Secondly, the river dams were already deteriorating, soon to drop regardless on their own.

“There hasn’t been a boat barge go through those since before the 60s,” explained Wernick. “Actually, they were just big, giant concrete safety hazard impediments to the river, so we just had to get rid of them.”

Next, the Army Corps emphasizes that they could not have adjusted the dam removal process around this year’s drought. Wernick says even without their hand, the river water levels would have shallowed.

“With the lower water this year, we actually were able to see some of the other safety hazards with what was left,” he explained. “Another big reason why we did [the removal when we did] was because the water levels were low. We wouldn’t want [crews] working in a fast-moving high flow river just because of the safety of the crew that’s doing it.”

And as for the future? The Army Corps says for the sake of safety and aquatic habitat restoration residents and local waterbugs must adjust from more of a reservoir-type body of water to this fast, free-flowing river.