When Lake Thurmond is full, there is a vibrant economy around the lake, including water sports, recreation, fishing, boating, tourism and all related businesses that support the above. Retirement communities and real estate businesses thrive when the lake is near full pool.

A full-pool Lake Thurmond is an economic engine in this area that could be started without spending vast sums of money. The only thing needed is a change in the lake management plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I encourage all of us, especially community leaders and elected officials, to pressure the Corps to change the management plans to reflect 2009 community needs.

We have been in a cyclical drought in the Southeast, but other power lakes are mostly full, as they produce power and are maintained so that they are usable for other needs.

The population of the CSRA and Georgia is dramatically larger than when the lakes and dams were constructed in the 1950s. The retention of water for human use should override the priority of hydropower production. We should write our elected officials in Washington, D.C., to ask for a change in the management plan, for the Corps to place lake-water retention ahead of other uses. This change to full lakes will boost the economy without having to use bailout funds.

Federal bureaucrats respond only to rules and regulations, and a change in laws governing the Corps must happen to increase the water levels and boost the lake-area economy.