On Saturday, July 14, an enormous rockside near Tablesaw caused considerable damage to the Ocoee #2 diversionary flume, placing a 40-foot hole in one side, destroying cross beams and supports, and moving the actual structure toward the river about 18 inches. Although the TVA is rushing to make repairs, there is no set timeline for project completion, and it may be 5-6 weeks until a full water load can be returned to the flume. That said, whenever the TVA is generating electricity from the #3 Powerhouse (an estimated 18 hours per day), there will be water in the Middle Ocoee.
There is no change in the normal Ocoee water release schedule, other than higher water levels on Saturdays due to 1600 cfs releases on the Upper. We realize that some people are showing up at the Middle Ocoee and finding an erratic unscheduled release pattern, so we reinforce that scheduled releases will remain consistent, but that otherwise, you are pretty much on your own about guessing when water will be in the river. Unfortunately, there really is no great way of forecasting unscheduled releases
TVA said that they are trying to do as much work as possible between scheduled release days and attempting some downstream power generation on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (when releases are not normally scheduled), so full releases on those days are tentative at best. If you can share helpful unscheduled release trends, please feel free to e-mail Ocoee StreamKeeper Sutton Bacon, sutton@suttonbacon.com, or AW Eastern Conservation and Access Associate Kevin Colburn, kevin@amwhitewater.org.
In the meantime, be sure to check out the Middle Ocoee StreamKeeper page for the latest info and release schedules and this link for recent water release trends at Ocoee #2 Dam.
This time, the water’s on TVA, so enjoy the extra releases!
Article by: Sutton Bacon, Ocoee River Streamkeeper Extraordinaire.