What should have been done about it?
How about remove their control of said facilty? I loved the quotes on the radio from the commander of the dam. How his hands were tied and they could not legally do anything etc. No common sense.
The Corps should have cut back on relases to compensate for the spill (of 22 billion gallons). They should also have cut back in response to the drought. Last month, they released 35 times as much water from Lanier as flowed into the lake. We have gone well beyond the enviro wacko ideal of “no dams”. The flow would have been 1/35th as much without the dam (the mussels would all be dead).
The guys running the dam SHOULD have simply looked at the lake, which was OBVIOUSLY _WAY_ below where it should have been. Instead, they were slavishly obedient to a broken depth gauge, which told them to let _lots_ of water out.
Once the busted gauge was fixed, they SHOULD have slowed the release at least a bit until the lake was re-filled.
(FYI: I live a mile from the lake.)