The Corps was "hired" to build and manage the project. Rob, they did a good job of construction. Their management has at times been suspect. Bound and protected by regulations written over 60 years ago the Corps releases water on a schedule with little adjustment for the ever increrasing needs of the "supporting comunity" you mention. Occasionally these releases seem to make little sense or worse. The most recent mistake involved the replacement of some parts of the gage used to measure the level at the dam. The system was recalibrated based on an asuption thet all parts were replaced. One pully was kept from the original system, saving the taxpayers a whopping $138.00. The calibration method used did not adjust for this size pully and the next release lowered the lake ~2 feet more than intended during the worst drought in memory. (an extra 22 billion gallons) I will not thank the Corps for this. The U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers is now about 700 strong with nearly 40,000 civilian employees. My thanks goes to them every two weeks.

Changes have been proposed, made and lawsuits are in progress and we shall see what happens to this resource with our downstream demands hopefully modified by improved conservation behavior. We are all very happy to see the lake level return and grateful for it's existance to be sure.

Also please note that during my trips through the Atlanta airport I do personally thank the uniformed service members encountered "for standing on the wall". (someone paid for my dinner one night after basic...40 years ago...and it meant a lot)

"Good times ahead for everyone"...man I hope so!

Kevin