Lake Cumberland

Lake Cumberland is a reservoir in Clinton, Laurel, McCreary, Pulaski, Russell, and Wayne counties in Kentucky. The primary reasons for its construction were a means for flood control and the production of hydroelectric power. Its shoreline measures 1,255 miles (2,020 km) and the lake covers 65,530 acres (265 km2) at the maximum power pool elevation. The reservoir ranks 9th in the U.S. in size, with a capacity of 6,100,000 acre feet (7.5 km3) of water, enough to cover the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky with 3 inches (76 mm) of water. The main lake is 101 miles (163 km) long and over one mile (1.6 km) across at its widest point. The lake has become a major source of tourism and an economic engine for south-central Kentucky. As of September 2011 Lake Cumberland is approximately 50 feet (15 m) below its normal level due to a crack in the dam that is supposed to be fixed in the upcoming years. They have yet to come to a recognized solution to fix the dam because of the caverns that are underneath the structure so there is no best way to "seal" the crack. They are working on a solution by drilling to bed rock to fix the leakage caused by the caverns