That probably will be 55 million to 60 million gallons a day. The water company hopes to keep customer demand at about 45 million gallons a day and use the rest to refill the reservoir. For 23 days after that seven, the company will be allowed to withdraw 45 million gallons a day. The variance is being allowed, Smothers said, because Kentucky-American's permit was drawn up before the valves made it possible to move water from one river pool to another. The 14 dams on the Kentucky River divide the river into a series of flat water pools.
Water naturally flows over the dams almost all the time.
In 1988, it briefly stopped flowing over Dam No. 9 at Valley View, the dam that holds Lexington's water supply. It nearly stopped flowing over that dam a few days ago. But now, because working valves are now in place, and because a plan to operate them has been fine-tuned in the last few days, much more water is potentially available during this drought. About 3 billion gallons, according to Lindell Ormsbee, director of the University of Kentucky's Water Resources Research Institute. That water would come from behind Dam Nos.