It’s been a full and prosperous summer on West Point Lake this year, but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials are warning that the lake will be drawn down to winter levels – and that could leave some private docks in jeopardy.

Despite a request from the West Point Lake Coalition to issue a “variance” on the winter pool this year, the lake will be drawn down to 628 feet above mean sea level in accordance with the corps’ current operation plan.

That move and another predicted dry winter prompted corps officials to issue a warning last month that some private dock owners may be affected. The warning is for the entire Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint basin, of which West Point Lake is part. While the basin from LaGrange southward received beneficial rains this year, northern Alabama and Georgia did not, and corps leaders say flows to Florida still must be maintained year-round.

“The Southeast region is facing what may be three consecutive years of drought conditions un-precedented in their scope and severity,” said Patrick Robbins, spokesman for the corps’ district office in Mobile, Ala. “The effects are widespread and take a variety of forms.

“These lakes must meet a lot of needs and, under the current conditions, it will not be possible to meet all of them completely. It becomes a balancing act of trying to meet as many needs as possible with the available water if inflows continue to decline.” 

In the corps’ basin forecast, also issued in October, West Point Lake was expected to drop to 628 feet in January and begin to rise in late February or March.

The coalition made the variance request in early October. Last week on its bi-weekly basinwide call, the corps announced it would stick to its operation plan.

Ironically, even some leaders in Florida and on Lake Lanier were disappointed to hear West Point’s request to hold more water through the winter was denied. Leaders there say it would be best for as much to be stored through the winter as possible in case there’s another dry summer in 2009.

“It’s inexcusable you’re letting go of water that isn’t needed,” West Point Lake Coalition director Dick Timmerberg told corps officials on the call Thursday.