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Mount Storm (VEPCO) Lake
 Route 93, Bismarck, Mount Storm, WV 26739
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Max Depth: 131-140ft/40-43m
Average Viz: 16-20ft/5-6m
Entry Type: Shore
Bottom Composition: Rock
Aquatic Life: Might See Something
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Spring: 71-75°F/22-24°C
Summer: 71-75°F/22-24°C
Fall: 71-75°F/22-24°C
Winter: 71-75°F/22-24°C
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1200 acre lake made to cool a coal fired power plant. The entire lake is circulated approximately every 2 1/2 days if the plant is running full tilt. The lake is heated by the power plant and allows earlier spring diving and later fall diving. This lake is a very popular training location for WV, WV, MD, and PA. Several wooden platforms were put in place to keep students off the silt/ mud bottom.
Mt. Storm is a "heated lake". What I mean by this is that it is a cooling lake for the Mt. Storm power plant which is located across from the dive site entrance. The lake is "turned over" every two days. In the summer I have seen the temperature at 98 degrees. We usually start diving the lake in March or April and have dve it comfortably into November. In January the water temp is in the mid to high 50’s. If you are looking for great viz, forget it, the best I have seen is 10 to 12 feet and that is rare. There are two training platforms at 25 feet, one at 60 feet and one at 90 feet. There is a large gravel parking area for divers and boaters, but get there early in the summer, it’s a pretty popular place for both. Entry is made by walking in to the water down a set of steps that you have to be carful on the bottom of due to wash out, I will be adding some photos soon
Mt. Storm Lake was created in 1962 by Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) as a cooling pond for the 1,600-megawatt Mt. Storm Power Station, which provides electricity to more than 2 million customers. It is about 145 miles (232 km) west of the Washington D.C. beltway and 64 miles (102 km) from Winchester, Virginia, via U.S. Route 50 and West Virginia 42. The 1,200-acre (480-hectare) lake serves as a recreation site for boaters, swimmers and scuba divers.
The three massive generating units of the power station burn more than 15,000 tons of coal per day, but
state-of-the-art scrubbers keep the air quality well within legal limits. To pool the system, lake water is pumped through the plant at a rate of 234,000 gallons per minute, fast enough to completely recycle the lake water in 2.5
days. When the water emerges into the lake from the three return pipes, its temperature is 100 F (38 C).
Dominating the northeastern shore of Mt. Storm Lake, the superstructure of the massive power plant creates a
somewhat ominous-looking backdrop for the recreational access area. A gravel parking lot, boat-launching ramp and diver entry are just a few hundred feet east from the dam along West Virginia Route 93.
Divers are unconcerned by the power plant as they stream to Mt. Storm Lake on weekends by the hundreds.
For many the trip is like journeying to a mineral spa to "take the cure" from its healing waters. In a way it is a sort of pilgrimage. Instead of traveling to the Atlantic Ocean or a flooded quarry to complete open-water training dives,
refresh scuba skills or try out new equipment, divers do all that while getting a taste of steaming warm water.
Last time I was there is was cold and snowing. Since this lake is part of a Virginia Energy and Power Company generating station, the water was nice and unseasonably warm.
Shore entry across the lake from the power plant.
Here are couple websites with more info.
http://www.mtstorm.com/ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~bnagy/wvScubaPics.html