Low River Levels Not Impacting Local Water Supply Yet

The Green River at the Brownsville boat ramp.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
It might be ugly, but the water supply for Edmonson County is safe for now, according to an update from Edmonson County Water District General Manager Kevin Shaw.

The dam removal of Lock number 5 in Roundhill resumed in July after being halted for two years, after the water supply for Edmonson County became endangered. The Water District pleaded with lawmakers to do something to stop or slow down the dam removal until emergency measures were put in place. 

According to local lawmakers, Congress approved the dam removal, along with Lock no. 6 in Brownsville, based on engineers' estimations that turned out to be grossly incorrect.

The experts bragged about the dam removals bringing the river back to its natural flow and better conservation to wildlife and plant life, while keeping the water supply safe for the Edmonson County Water District. That flow caused sediment build up on the bottom of the river, and as the level of the river has dropped, the sediment is caused the bottom of the river to come up, for a double danger of water depth for the Water District.

The Green River at the Brownsville boat ramp.

In July of this year, the Water District installed an industrial pump near the water treatment plant in Brownsville which would be used to pump water from a much shallower depth than the current intake system in to the plant.

Shaw said the pump has not been used yet, despite the shallowing waters in the Green.

"So far we are getting by just fine," Shaw told the Edmonson Voice. "The pump is ready if we need it.  Right now I feel like we may make it through this year without big troubles."

The boat ramp in Brownsville is currently useless as water trickles near the Brownsville Bridge where it was at a deep, comfortable depth just a few years ago. However, Edmonson County Tourism Director Vanessa Ulm said one local business owner had an interesting take on the current situation.

Ulm said that according to Joel Davis, owner of Green River Canoeing and Kayaking,  there are two small rapids between the old Lock no. 6 location and the Brownsville boat ramp.

"They are a lot of fun, if they could just fix a path through the old Lock 6 because we're still hitting rocks there. If we could get that fixed then we would be on the map," Davis said.

Ulm also said she had seen several social media posts regarding the current state of the river.

"I've seen the pictures circulating social media of the debris and how unattractive it makes the Green River look if you're padding through," she said. "My hope is that the Corp of Engineers has a plan to remove debris now that the water is low enough to expose it."