TVA staff recommends keeping summer lake levels up
Beamon Fowler
Beamon Fowler
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee Valley Authority lakes would stay high through Labor Day and tributary reservoirs wouldn’t fall so far in the winter, the TVA staff has recommended in a bid to boost recreation and lakeshore economies.
The 1,800-page TVA report — the culmination of an $11 million, two-year study — also says the changes would improve water flow on the Tennessee River to aid barge traffic in the summer and reduce flooding in Chattanooga in the spring.
But project director David Nye said Friday, “The part the public will focus on the most is to delay the drawdown on the upper tributaries as well as some of the mainstem” reservoirs.
The new policy, representing the first major changes in TVA’s river operations since 1990, would effectively push back the start of summer drawdowns by a month, from Aug. 1 to Labor Day.
TVA estimates giving up cheap hydroelectric production during the peak summer months will increase its power costs by $14 million. But it says the plan should provide a $9 million economic gain to lakeshore communities from increased recreational opportunities and savings of $2.5 million to barge shippers.
The agency also figures the plan will help water quality and supply, marine habitat and scenic beauty.
Residents and lake users on 10 tributary lakes feeding the 652-mile Tennessee River system above Knoxville for years have been urging the federal agency to delay the drawdowns that leave them high and dry by winter.
Joe Brang, vice president of Lake Owners and Users of Douglas Lake or LOUD, said he is pleased TVA recognized the quality-of-life benefits of delaying the drawdown. “They should be commended for recommending breaking with a tradition that has existed for more than 60 years.”
The study is being distributed for public comments throughout TVA’s service territory in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
The TVA Board of Directors is expected to consider the changes at a meeting May 19 in Oxford, Miss.
“Ideally our folks would like to see the drawdown in the lake not until Nov. 1, but that is not realistically going to happen,” said Paul Chapman of the Cherokee Lake Users Association. “So this is basically a very good step in our opinion and we certainly support it.”
The 10 tributary lakes most affected are: Boone, Chatuge, Cherokee, Douglas, Hiwassee, Norris, South Holston and Watauga in Tennessee, Fontana in North Carolina and Nottely in Georgia. In the most extreme case, Fontana’s level drops 72 feet from summer to winter. Under the plan, it would drop 52 feet.
Other changes in the proposal:
— The spring fill of Tennessee River reservoirs at Chickamauga, Watts Bar and Loudoun would be delayed to provide flood protection for downstream Chattanooga.
— Summer recreation levels would be extended through Labor Day on four Tennessee River reservoirs — Chickamauga in Tennessee, Guntersville and Wheeler in Alabama and Pickwick on the Mississippi-Tennessee border.
— Water releases would be expanded on a dependable schedule for recreation in the tailwaters of five additional tributary reservoirs — Apalachia, Ocoee, Norris, Watauga-Wilbur and South Holston.
— Water flows would be increased at Kentucky Dam to benefit barge traffic.
— Some hydroelectric power generation would be shifted from the summer to the winter.
The massive river study, which yielded 33 public meetings, thousands of public comments and a review from several state and federal agencies, resulted from a request from TVA’s Regional Resource Stewardship Council, said Miles Mennel, a council member and executive director of the Association of Tennessee Valley Governments.
“They heard the council say, ‘TVA you really need to be responsive to the public and evaluate your policies to see if there is greater value to your management of the integrated river system,'” Mennel said.
“I think they have done a good job,” she said.
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On the Net:
TVA Reservoir Study: http://www.tva.com/feature—rostudy/