Gauley River & New River Flows & Summerville Lake Levels
Summersville Dam was built in the early 60’s and dedicated by President LB Johnson in 1965. It is the largest earthen dam east of the Mississippi. Summersville Dam was built with three project purposes, flood control, low water augmentation, and recreation in the lake. In 1988 Summersville Dam became the first facility to make down stream recreation a project purpose.Each fall, starting the weekend after Labor Day, the Corps of Engineers begins to lower Summersville Lake 70 feet for flood control. The whitewater industry has worked closely with the Corp to coordinate the releases to optimize whitewater flows. Each spring, usually around the middle of March, the Corps begins to fill the lake. The graphic below shows the lake level and flows in real time. Bookmark this to follow the ups and downs of the lake and river flows.
