Santee Cooper releasing more water from lakes because of rainfall

COLUMBIA, SC The state-owned Santee Cooper power company is releasing more water from Lake Marion into the Santee River because of rainfall in recent weeks.

In a news release Monday, the company said it is increasing the rate at the Santee dam’s spillway to 97,000 cubic feet per second, up from 75,000 cubic feet per second late last week. The company began letting out water Dec. 25 at a rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second.

“Prolonged rainfall throughout its watershed, combined with spilling operations from upstream reservoirs, has brought increased inflows to the Santee Cooper lakes system,’’ the company said.

High water from heavy rains in the interior of the state near Columbia and above is contributing to the high flows downstream. Large amounts of water also have been released from Lake Murray, which has been blamed for flooding one Columbia area neighborhood.

Company spokeswoman Mollie Gore said the water being let out from the Santee Dam is a larger amount than usual. The released water is going into the Santee River, which keeps the lake levels at both Marion and Moultrie from getting too high.The Santee River flows through a mostly rural area to the ocean between Georgetown and Charleston.

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This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 5:48 PM.