Lake Keowee

Lake Keowee
Location	Oconee / Pickens counties, South Carolina, USA
Coordinates	34°48′00″N 82°53′12″W
Type	Reservoir
Primary inflows	Keowee River, Little River
Primary outflows	Keowee River, Little River
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	18,372 acres (74.35 km2)
Average depth	52 ft
Max. depth	297 ft
Settlements	Arial, Clemson, Dacusville, Easley, Liberty, Pickens, Salem, Seneca, Walhalla, and Westminster

Lake Keowee is a reservoir created by Keowee Dam and Little River Dam. It impounds the Keowee River and the Little River, each of which exits through its respective dam. The two rivers join just below the dams and their confluence forms the Seneca River, a tributary of the Savannah River. Lake Keowee is used as cooling water for three nuclear reactors located at the Oconee Nuclear Generating Station which are owned by Duke Energy Corporation. Duke Energy's Keowee Hydro Station generates 158 MW from the dammed lake. The lake covers about 18,372 acres (74.35 km²). Lake Keowee is one of the purest clear lakes in North America dotted with islands and home to a variety of bass and other fish. Lake Keowee is a water sportsman's paradise in South Carolina, a place for boating, fishing, kayaking, sailing and swimming.

The Keowee River, now inundated by Lake Keowee, was the heart of the Cherokee Lower Towns region. The principal Lower Town, Keowee was on the bank of the river and gave both the river and the lake their names.

History

Lake Keowee is an artificial lake, created by the Duke Power Company in 1971. It was made to generate hydroelectric power to a large radius of the surrounding area. It was the lake made as part of Duke Energy’s Keowee-Toxaway Complex.

Before Keowee was a lake, it was Keowee River. In the time of the Cherokee being still populated in the area, Keowee town was the capital of Eastern or Lower Cherokees. In the 1753, when white settlers came from Europe, a fort, named Fort Prince George was built across the river from Keowee Town. Duke Energy and the University of South Carolina teamed up and found 39 excavation sites of the fort. A participant in the dig built a model of an excavation site that is now in the Keowee-Toxaway State Park. Keowee Town was another excavation site, and thousands of artifacts were found there, things like pottery beads, and human and animal remains.

Land purchases along the river began in 1963, and South Carolina Land & Timber was formed for the specific purpose of "acquiring, holding, and developing land and timber properties". The named was later changed in 1966 to Crescent Land and Timber.

On January 2, 1965, current Duke Energy president W. B. McGuire held a press conference at Clemson House, on the Clemson University campus, and announced Duke Energy's intentions of building a large complex to generate power, which would be called the Keowee-Toxaway project, and would cost an estimated 700 million dollars. On January 4, Duke filled for liscence to build the first phase of construction.

In the first phase on construction, dams would be built on the Keowee and Little rivers to create Lake Keowee and the Jocassee river would be dammed to create Lake Jocassee. This would cost an estimated 83 million dollars. In July of 1966, Duke energy placed one of the largest orders for land clearing ever given in either South or North Carolina. The order was given to Jeff Hunt Machinery Company, to clear the basins for the new Lake Keowee and Jocassee sites. Duke then granted the order of earth-moving to Blythe Brothers and Clement Brothers companies, and they would begin in 1967. At the official groundbreaking, a red, white, and blue dynamite charge was set off by then SC governor Robert McNair in April of 1967. Lake Keowee would be formed by putting together the Keowee and Little rivers.

The Lake Keowee dam is the longest of the three dams. Approximately, it is 3500 feet long, 800 feet wide at its base, and 20 feet wide at the very top. It is 20 feet higher than the Little River dam, but 215 feet lower than the Jocassee dam. The Keowee dam contains 2 hydroelectric generating units, capable of generating 40 megawatts. Roughly, 2.4 megawatts can power 420 homes, as proven by a Tuscon power company in 2003 using solar energy.

Keowee's tunnel for transporting water is 800 feet long and 33.5 feet wide. It can contain a maximum of 5.3 million gallons of water at a time, with an average flow rate of 1000 cubic feet per second.

To cool the plant, the Oconee skimmer wall was built into the lake. The wall separates the plant's inlet canal from the lake itself. The skimmer wall does not go all the way to be bottom of the lake. This is a design that allows cool lake water to come through the bottom to cool parts of the plant that need it. The lake is about 150 feet deep where the skimmer is.

The Lake Jocassee hydro station feeds water into Lake Keowee. The initial transfer of water began in December 1973, and commercial operation began on December 19, 1973.

Duke Energy closed the gates of the Keowee dam on April 2, 1970, to being the final phase of impouding the lake the reach the ultimate depth of 150 feet and to create the lake. The Keowee hydro station was then completed and began its commercial operation on April 17, 1971.

The Oconee Nuclear Site was completed and began its operation in 1973, and has currently generated more electricity than any other site in the nation.

See also

• Lake Jocassee

External links

• Quick Facts about Lake Keowee
• Lake Keowee Guide Map
• Life on Lake Keowee
• Lake Keowee Pictures & Map
• VIDEO of Lake Keowee
• Learn More about Upstate, South Carolina
• South Carolina Lake Living
• Lake Keowee Area Information