J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill) Water Level
Georgia & South Carolina · Savannah River
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Water level history
About J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill)
J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill) is a reservoir on the Savannah River in Georgia & South Carolina, operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It's one of the largest Corps lakes east of the Mississippi and is called Clarks Hill in Georgia. Its full summer pool sits at 330 ft above sea level. Live water levels come from USGS gauge 02193900 and update every 15 to 60 minutes.
Understanding J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill)'s water level
This lake has two names and a genuinely bitter history behind them. Built as Clarks Hill and completed in 1954, it was renamed by a congressional joint resolution signed in December 1987 for Senator Strom Thurmond. The reaction in Georgia was fierce: a group called Keep our Lake Clarks Hill gathered more than eighty thousand signatures and sold merchandise reading "It's Still Clarks Hill to Me". The compromise put "at Clarks Hill" on the dam signage, and Georgia's own signs kept the original name. Nearly forty years on the split survives in agency usage, with Georgia's wildlife division still writing "Clarks Hill (known as J. Strom Thurmond in S.C.)".
The operating rule is a modest but real seasonal one. The guide curve sits flat at 326 feet from mid-December through the start of January, rises steadily through the spring to reach 330 feet at the beginning of April, holds 330 through mid-October, then eases back to 326 by mid-December. That is a four-foot winter drawdown for flood storage. Conservation storage between 312 and 330 feet is about 1,045,000 acre-feet, with a further 390,000 in the five feet of flood pool above. The lake is operated as one of three on the Savannah, with Hartwell upstream and Russell between them held essentially flat as a re-regulation pool.
Drought here is managed by published trigger elevations, which makes the gauge unusually meaningful. Between mid-April and mid-October, Level 1 begins at 326 feet, Level 2 at 324, Level 3 at 316 and Level 4 at 312. Releases fall to 4,500 cubic feet per second at Level 2 and 3,600 at Level 3. The record high is 336.46 feet from April 1964, and the record low of 296.40 feet dates to February 1956, shortly after the project was finished. The modern low is 313.65 feet on 10 November 2008, which left the lake about twenty inches above the bottom of usable storage. One more thing shapes the fishing: in 2011 the Corps installed a hypolimnetic oxygen injection system near Modoc, South Carolina, and biologists tracking striped bass found it made the lower reservoir habitable on 89 percent of summer dates afterwards, where before 2011 conditions had become unsuitable by early September.
J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill) — frequently asked
Is it Clarks Hill or J. Strom Thurmond Lake?
Both, depending on which side you are standing. Built as Clarks Hill, it was renamed by a congressional joint resolution signed in December 1987 for Senator Strom Thurmond. Georgia opposition gathered over eighty thousand signatures, and the compromise added "at Clarks Hill" to the dam signage while Georgia's own signs kept the original name. Georgia agencies still use Clarks Hill; South Carolina agencies use Thurmond.
What is the guide curve at Clarks Hill Lake?
It sits flat at 326 feet from mid-December through early January, rises through spring to 330 feet by the start of April, holds 330 through mid-October, then falls back to 326 by mid-December. That four-foot winter drawdown is deliberate flood storage, so a reading around 326 in January is the schedule rather than drought.
At what level does Clarks Hill enter drought operations?
There are published triggers. Between mid-April and mid-October, Level 1 begins at 326 feet, Level 2 at 324, Level 3 at 316 and Level 4 at 312, which is the bottom of conservation storage. Releases are cut to 4,500 cubic feet per second at Level 2 and 3,600 at Level 3. The thresholds are slightly lower in the December to January window.
What are Clarks Hill's record high and low levels?
The record high is 336.46 feet on 11 April 1964, above the 335-foot top of the flood pool. The record low is 296.40 feet on 3 February 1956, shortly after the project was completed. The modern record low is 313.65 feet on 10 November 2008, which left the lake less than two feet above the bottom of usable storage.
How is Clarks Hill operated with Hartwell and Russell?
As one coordinated system on the Savannah River. Hartwell sits upstream with a 35-foot conservation band, Clarks Hill downstream with an 18-foot band, and Richard B. Russell between them is held essentially flat at 475 feet as a re-regulation pool rather than a storage lake. Drought triggers are set jointly for Hartwell and Clarks Hill.
Why did the Corps put oxygen into Clarks Hill Lake?
To keep striped bass alive through summer. Stripers need cool water with dissolved oxygen above about five milligrams per litre, and before 2011 conditions in the lower reservoir became unsuitable by early September, leaving only the Russell tailrace as refuge. The Corps installed a hypolimnetic oxygen injection system near Modoc, South Carolina in 2011, and tracking afterwards found suitable conditions on 89 percent of summer dates.
Other lakes near J. Strom Thurmond Lake (Clarks Hill)
- Lake LanierGA
- Lake HartwellGA/SC
- Lake NottelyGA
- Lake ChatugeGA/NC
- Richard B. Russell LakeGA/SC
- Carters LakeGA
See current levels for all 11 Georgia lakes and reservoirs →
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