TVA’s lake level proposal has some cheering, others jeering

Over the next nine days, the water levels on Chickamauga, Watts Bar, Fort Loudon and Tellico lakes will rise nearly 5 feet to designated summertime levels.

Some lake users can’t wait.

“We’ve had campers out here since the middle of March chomping at the bit waiting for the water to come up,” said Linda Dickinson, a manager at Camp Columbus on Chickamauga Lake.

If the new calendar is adopted, they may have to wait longer for higher lake levels next year. TVA is proposing to delay by a month part of the summertime filling at its main reservoirs upstream of Chattanooga.

TVA will receive comments on the changes until April 12 and they will be considered by directors at their May 19 meeting. The changes stem from a two-year, $11 million study of how the Tennessee River system is managed.

The proposed changes are intended to provide more springtime flood protection for Chattanooga. Had such a filling schedule been in place last May, TVA estimates at least $15 million of flood damage in Chattanooga could have been avoided.

Critics of the changes question the impact on fish and lake recreation.

“By delaying the filling of these reservoirs during late April and the early May, the spawning of some bass and crappie could be adversely affected,” said Bill Reeves, chief of the fisheries division for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “Over time, that could limit fish populations in these lakes.”

Currently, TVA maintains the Chickamauga, Watts Bar, Fort Loudon and Tellico reservoirs at winter pool until April 1. The agency then allows those lakes to fill up with rainwater to reach their summertime levels more than 5 feet higher by April 15.

Under the changes, TVA would continue to fill its main reservoir lakes starting April 1. But after the lakes are halfway toward their higher summertime levels by April 8, TVA would scale back the rate at which it fills to summertime levels. The higher summertime pool would not be achieved until May 15.

TVA officials contend the change should help limit lake level fluctuations that also hurt some fish spawning. Additionally, there would be higher water levels on most lakes through August and many reservoirs would maintain higher winter levels.

“We like to water ski, so the higher water in August is more appealing to us than it is in April,” said Rick Vatt, a lakefront resident in the Brighton Sound subdivision. Vatt and his son, Seth, took advantage of the lower wintertime lake level on the Chickamauga Lake last week to work on installing a new boat dock.

TVA Director Bill Baxter, who grew up on a TVA reservoir in Knoxville, said the agency took “a very careful and deliberative approach” to developing its recommended changes.

“I think we’ve come up with a better way to balance all of the competing demands on the river,” Baxter said.

So far most comments about the changes have been supportive, he said.

Residents along TVA’s 10 tributary lakes, including Fontana, Cherokee, Douglas, Hiwassee and Nottely, have long urged TVA to keep their lake levels higher. The new plan will increase the winter lake levels in some of those tributaries by up to 10 feet.

Morgan Goranflo, manager of river scheduling at TVA, said that twice in two decades Chattanooga was “hit hard by May floods.”

“That forced us to rethink our approach,” he said.

TVA proposes changes in seasonal water calendar
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s reservoir operations plan is available online at www.tva.gov.

TVA will accept public comments on its proposal through April 12 at TVA’s Web site www.tva.gov or by mail: David Nye, Project Manager, ROS, TVA, 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, TN 37902.

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Public meetings about the changes are planned this week by the Watts Bar Lake Users Association at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Spring City Municipal Building in Spring City, Tenn., and by the city of Kingston, Tenn., at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Kingston Community Center.
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Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com