To the Editor:

We have now had a year of experience living with the US Corps of Engineers’ new plan for managing the flow of water in the Roanoke River, commonly referred to as the Quasi-Run of the River, or QRR. Simply put, the QRR approach involves releasing flood waters held in Kerr Lake faster, which results in shorter duration flooding downstream.

While the Corps manages the amount of water released through the Roanoke River system, Dominion Energy manages the water levels for Lake Gaston and Roanoke Rapids Lake.

This past year’s weather was not as wet as the near record-setting year before. However, we did have some significant weather events that posed challenges for the floodwater management of the Roanoke River basin. These weather events have given us experience with the implementation of the QRR approach.

We cannot control what Mother Nature throws our way. We are pleased, though, that the QRR appears to result in fewer days of damaging high water levels on Lake Gaston as compared to the old method of floodwater management.

We appreciate that during the development of these plans, the Corps and Dominion Energy met with the Lake Gaston Association and other stakeholders to hear our concerns.

We would like to publicly thank the Corps and Dominion Energy for the implementation of the QRR and for mitigating our members’ concerns with the implementation of QRR. Dominion has excelled in handling outputs from Kerr Dam that were almost double the releases during the worst of 2016. They have found the way to deal with these flood conditions and still do their best to preserve the properties around the lake. All residents of Lake Gaston owe them a particular debt of thanks.

Bill Heflin

President

Lake Gaston Association