CLEMSON UNIVERSITY — Each winter college rowing teams from up north visit Clemson University to use its rowing facilities and the miles of deep, straight Hartwell Lake water for practice sessions.

This year they are being advised to find other venues, said Chris Hardy of the Clemson Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We learned last week that the teams might not be coming to Clemson for winter practice. This is a serious blow to the economy of the area,” Hardy said.

Hazards from low lake levels have caused the Clemson rowing team, as well as, out-of-state teams to think about relocating to other areas, said Anna Connelly, executive director of the Foothills YMCA in Clemson.

“Clemson University has a six-lane 2000 meter course that they use for competitions. The visiting teams like to use the race course during the winter because it can provide ice-free rowing. I have had to notify 11 teams that the lake may be too low for their use this year,” Connelly said.

“This is a big economic hit because each of the teams can have as many as 70 to 110 members. With economic multipliers that $300,000 or so the teams could spend amounts to well over $1million in revenue losses for the Clemson area,” she said.

Connelly is a member of the Clemson Area Chamber sport’s council. She said the rowing crews use the YMCA dock to launch their rowing skulls (boats).

“These teams have been coming here for 14 years. It is painful to tell them the water is too low for rowing, but even the Clemson crew is not working on the lake. They are using exercise machines now instead,” said Connelly.

“We are talking about big name schools like Purdue, Boston University, Princeton, Eastern Michigan, Indiana and Georgetown, to name some of them,” Connelly said.

“Hopefully, the water will return and we can welcome them all back next year,” she said.