Lakes equal, more or lessTrouble is, Marion and Moultrie both hold restless waters By Bo Petersen (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Post and Courier Previous storiesRelicensing sparks a battle to restore flow levels, published 04/14/02 Upstate left high and dry;Despite what seems like every-afternoon storms, drought conditions worsen, published 08/05/08 With the Marion-Moultrie lake levels dropping daily because of drought, Lowcountry kayaker Dennis Biby began watching them closely. That raised a question. Why are Lake Marion levels routinely a foot or so higher than Lake Moultrie, when the two are essentially the same water body, connected by the Diversion Canal; shouldn't the water surface be level? The question, it turns out, is a good one. "The level is not a measure of depth. It's a measure of elevation above sea level," said Molly Gore, of Santee Cooper corporate communications. Got that? Neither did Biby. Whether or not one lake sits higher than the other, the water shouldn't, not that much, he said. "It's a rate equation. If you put two (pressures) together that are unequal, they will try to equilibrate. If there is an imbalance, it's got to be because there are other differences in the equation," said Jon Hakkila, College of Charleston physics department chairman. Got that? We didn't think so. In fact, a graduate student who just sweated out a master's thesis on the same topic, water flow, had to sweat through a lot of other differences in the equation. So, let Bud Badr, state hydrologist, explain. The two lakes are one, big, bulgy river. A river flows because the upstream end is higher than the downstream, whether it looks like it or not. The Diverson Canal acts like a bottleneck, pooling water in Lake Marion. So, hourly lake level readings will tend to show Marion higher than Moultrie. Except sometimes, Moultrie reads higher. Now, quit that screaming, Badr can explain. No matter which lake reads higher, Biby is pretty much right — on a daily average there's little difference between their levels. "Water keeps moving," Badr said. "The water is always trying to reach equilibrium. It's really a balancing act between the lakes." Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@ postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 7 comment(s)
Posted by ColdBeer on August 8, 2008 at 5:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a news story? More or less?
Got that? We didn't think so.
Posted by ColdBeer on August 8, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The more I think about this article, the more it baffles me. I guess you wake up one morning, forgetting that you don't have a firm grasp on physics, and you decide that there should be no resistance to flow in a body of moving water and that all water levels should be the same. You can't figure out why they aren't so you contact the news paper. The person that answers the phone at the P&C is just as baffled; after all, they got their "degree" in journalism. The reporter, another journalist, assigned to the article is also confused... probably worried too. They go so far as to interview Santee-Cooper.
THEN.. to top it all off you have Jon Hakkila, College of Charleston physics department chairman who concludes, basically, that hmmm... if the level are different, something must be causing them to be different. BRILLIANT!
Bud Badr steps in and provides the answer that, as it turns out, must be the equivalent of the meaning of life.
I understand someone not knowing that the levels are going to be different. I don't understand them contacting the paper when they could have asked a friend and NOT been made a fool in front of the entire low country. I'm not surprised the P&C ran the article though.
So here's one for you P&C... why are rain drops different sizes?? OMG!!!!! Call Albert Einstein!
Posted by oldglory on August 8, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL
Posted by OverHere on August 8, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the reporter here never understood either.
Using the river model, Lake Moultrie is sometimes higher because the stage of the river passing through that area is higher than than the stage of the river that happens to be passing through the Lake Marion area at that time.
But usually Lake Marion is higher because it is upstream and also the bottleneck created by the diversion canal tends to pool water there.
Posted by tc1 on August 8, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It really doesn't seem that mysterious to me. You have two large lakes connected by a narrow canal. Each has numerous different kinds of inflows and outflows. If you compltely stop all inflow and outflow in both lakes for X amount of time they will adjust to the same level.
Posted by ohyea on August 8, 2008 at 10:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You sure its not because the fishing is better in Lake Marion? I figure with all them bass boats the water level would be higher depending when the fish were biten...
Posted by letstakeawalk on August 9, 2008 at 11:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I didn't post any comments earlier because I sent a link to Fark.com. It's really telling when a humor news aggregator (with the tag line "It's not news, It's Fark") rejects an article...
Should've headlined this one "College Physics Professor and State Hydrologist Agree: Water Flows Downhill."
I've got another article idea: Why does my street flood when the drains are blocked?