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ALBANY, GA -- Georgia Power will conduct a controlled drawdown of Lake Chehaw for scheduled maintenance on the Flint River Hydro Dam. Starting Tuesday and going through part of October, the company is lowering the water level at the lake to approximately eight feet.

This means a lot of lakeside activities, like skiing and some fishing will be postponed until the maintenance is complete.

“We’re just asking boaters to make sure that their boats are secure during the drawdown so as the water level comes down there won’t be any harm to their boats,” says Jeff Wilson with Georgia Power.

As they do every two years or so, Georgia Power is performing maintenance on parts of the dam.

“It’s to make sure the dam gates are operating correctly, that the seals on these gates are working properly, and to make sure that the generating units are working when we need the generation to come on,” says Wilson.

Boaters can still go out to enjoy the waters but some activities will just have to wait.

“You can’t go fishing when they got the lake drawn down,” says fisherman Johnnie Smith.

“You just got to watch out putting your boat in and watch for stumps if you’re going boating. I wouldn’t pull my grandkids out there,” says boater Wayne Harrell.

Other fishermen like Michael Bell, don’t mind the low water level.

“They need to leave it lower for a while, at least until scrape season starts anyway,” says Bell.

Georgia Power says boaters can still venture out on the lake but ask them to please proceed with caution. Refilling is scheduled to start on October 11th. If you have any more questions about the drawdown, call Georgia Power’s Bartletts Ferry land management office at 706-317-6061.