Nantahala

Duke Energy is lowering the reservoir a few feet by November 1, and will be shutting down the powerhouse from Nov 1 through mid-January. Once the reservoir levels climb to reach their target levels, Duke will maintain reservoir levels by releasing water from the dam through the Cascades/Upper Nantahala during the powerhouse shut-down. Flows will not be predictable, so enjoy with caution.

Duke Energy has made the decision to cancel the Nantahala Bypass Flows scheduled for September 28th and 29th, 2024, due to Tropical Storm Helene (soon to be hurricane status) that has the potential to produce flooding conditions, downed trees due to wind gusts up to 50 MPH, and even landslides could occur. Releases will be reschedule at a later date.

Because of the limited parking on release weekends paddlers are now strongly encouraged to either take the NOC shuttle from the lower Nantahala commercial put in if one is available, or park up along the dirt Old River Road to ease the mahem and enjoy some extra rapids. Ample parking exists up the Old River Road a mile or so. Note that many pull-off on the main paved road are closed to parking during release days, and if you use these spots for dropping off or picking up boats and people please move quickly to free up the spaces for the next group. Please no matter where you park keep your wheels off the roads, do not impede traffic, and obey signs. Walking laps is the norm, but walk as far off the road as possible and keep those sterns out of traffic.

Nantahala Lake continues to slowly rise, currently 86.28 ft. A spillway gate at Nantahala Dam will be adjusted this morning to support lake level management while the generating unit continues its outage. The spillway gate flow will be approximately 272 cfs. The Nantahala hydro unit is still scheduled to return to operations by January 27.

As always, the general public and members of the rafting/outfitters community on the Nantahala River are strongly encouraged to monitor the USGS Streamflow Gage at Hewitt for the most current flow information. Please be aware that flows from Duke Energy facilities, and the natural inflow can be greater than when only the generating unit is running.

Two releases cancelled due to strainers have been rescheduled for 8/17/23 and 9/7/23. Like the cancelled releases, these 2 releases are on Thursday evenings to ease some of the logistical challenges for our partners that help manage the releases.

Duke Energy is postponing the recreational flow releases planned for the Nantahala River Bypassed Reach on June 29 and July 6. The releases will be rescheduled to a later date. There are two trees spanning the bypassed reach below the Horns of God feature. Duke Energy is unable to safely remove the trees due to increased streamflow from recent rain and the areas steep terrain. The trees are scheduled to be removed the week of July 10. Duke Energy will provide updates as information becomes available.

Nantahala Lake continues to slowly rise, currently 87.12 ft, and rain is in the forecast for Sunday and Tuesday. A spillway gate at Nantahala Dam will be adjusted this morning to support lake level management while the generating unit continues its outage. The spillway gate flow will be approximately 600 cfs. The Nantahala hydro unit is still scheduled to return to operations by January 27.

The Nantahala generating unit is offline in a scheduled outage to support annual maintenance. This outage began on January 5th and the generating unit is scheduled to return to service January 27th. The lake level was 77.6 ft at the start of the outage. Rainfall and inflows have caused the lake level to rise to 84.6 ft. and continues to slowly rise. A spillway gate at Nantahala Dam will be opened this evening to support lake level management while the generating unit is offline. The spillway gate flow will be approximately 300 cfs which is well below the flow as when the generator is online.

After a spring with reduced power generation capacity due to a broken transformer, the Nantahala hydro plant is fully back online, ahead of schedule. The Upper/Cascades releases on April 23 &24 will occur as scheduled (250 & 350 cfs) and flows will otherwise be routed around the Upper to the powerhouse.

Expect continuous flows in the Cascades and Upper Nantahala now through April 20 around 287cfs. The scheduled releases on April 23rd and 24th will happen around at 500cfs instead of 350 and 250. April 20 through sometime in mid-May flows will be 600cfs every day, likely dropping at night. Sometime in late May flows will return to normal (low) flows.

The Nantahala hydro unit is scheduled for an outage to begin February 12 and take approximately 4 weeks. During this outage, if the lake has returned to the normal target, the lake level will be managed with the spillway gate, if necessary.

Due to recent rainfall and increased stream inflows, a spillway gate opening is required at Lake Nantahala to assist with lake level management. The spillway gate will be opened at noon. The generating unit continues to run around the clock. Regulated flows from the spillway and generating unit will be ~800 cfs.

As always, the general public and members of the rafting/outfitters community on the Nantahala River are strongly encouraged to monitor the USGS Streamflow Gauge at Hewitt for the most current flow information. Please be aware that flows from Duke Energy facilities, combined with the natural inflow, will be greater than when only the generating unit is running.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/uv/?site\_no=03505550&PARAmeter\_cd=00065,00060

The April 2020 releases are being postponed due to COVID-19, and AW will work with Duke Energy and our agency partners to reschedule them when more paddlers can safely enjoy them.