As I continue working with our engineering firm on the projects associated with the Club Lake dam (at the corner of Hudson Rd and Dillard Rd), I learn some interesting facts I've never known. For example, and todays trivial information for you:
1. The watershed that serves Club Lake (this is land area where all water runs into the lake whether it be from roads, golf course etc) is 1.33 square miles. That's a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I would have guessed 5 square miles. The Upper Cullasaja Watershed is one of the smallest in the country at only 14 square miles.
2. On an average day 5 cubic feet of water flows over the dam every second. To convert that to gallons, 1 cubic foot of water is equivalent to 7.5 gallons of water. This means 37.5 gallons of water cross the dam each second. This means 2,250 gallons cross the dam in one minute, 135,000 gallons/hour or 3,240,000 gallons a day. This information is used to determine what size pipe is needed to siphon water over the dam in order to drop the lake level.