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7/25/2010 4:13:25 AM
Knoxville News Sentinel
For a brief moment Cherokee Lake replaced Norris as the nexus of striper rage. In the mid-to-late 1990s TVA installed an oxygen diffuser system above ...
7/17/2010 5:00:30 AM
Greeneville Sun
Forgive the redundancy but the TWRA also just officially reminded anglers of the above mentioned closure on Cherokee Lake. Here is how it's stood for the ...
7/13/2010 9:11:06 AM
Tulsa World
Biffle wrapped up his win Saturday at the Professional Anglers Association tournament on Tennessee's Cherokee Lake. He was fresh off his win June 20 in the ...
7/12/2010 8:45:33 PM
Basszone.com
7/12/2010 4:17:30 AM
Basszone.com
7/11/2010 1:28:20 PM
WBIR-TV
In this area beside Cherokee Lake in Grainger County, you are much more likely to come across wild berries than any kind of bean. "Of course, the name comes ...
7/10/2010 3:24:11 AM
FishingWorld.com
That pushed him to a lead of nearly four pounds after the second day of the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix on Cherokee Lake. ...
7/9/2010 10:46:11 PM
Basszone.com
The Top 30 will compete Saturday for the Cherokee Lake title. “I started this morning with a decent fish around 8:00 but by 2:30, I only had two fish. ...
7/9/2010 2:44:45 PM
FishingWorld.com
7/9/2010 2:55:25 AM
FishingWorld.com
The opening event of the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix got underway Thursday on Cherokee Lake, with noted power anglers ...
7/8/2010 5:31:47 AM
Knoxville News Sentinel
According to Clemons, the July fishing conditions at Cherokee Lake will be a ... I know fishing is tough right now on Cherokee (Lake), but these guys are ...
7/6/2010
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
The eastern Valley received some much-needed rain in May. But, as the chart below shows, the pattern of dry weather observed earlier in the year resumed in June. Eastern Valley rainfall for the year to date is 76 percent of normal. Runoff (the amount of water that reaches the river system when it rains instead of being absorbed into the ground) is currently 91 percent of normal in the eastern Valley.
Rain
and runoff
Reservoir
elevations Despite the dry weather in
June, TVA has been able to keep most tributary reservoirs very close to their
flood guide levels by releasing only the minimum amount of water needed to meet
downstream flow requirements. The exception is Cherokee Reservoir, which was
still one-and-a-half feet below its flood guide elevation on July 1. TVA was
able to bring Cherokee water levels up several feet in June by pulling the
water needed to meet the system flow requirements from those reservoirs at
higher levels and will continue to conserve water in Cherokee until it is in
balance with other tributary reservoirs. Tributary
reservoir elevations¹
¹Elevations above mean sea level
²Flood guide elevations
show the amount of storage allocated for flood damage reduction during
different times of the year. From June 1 through Labor Day, TVA's goal is to
meet downstream flow requirements while keeping the reservoir elevation at the
dam as close to the flood guide level as possible to support reservoir
recreation. During this period, reservoir elevations fall below the flood guide
only when rainfall and runoff are insufficient to meet flow requirements. The
rest of the year, the primary objective is to keep the reservoir elevations at
or below the flood guide to ensure there is enough space in the reservoir to
store the rain and runoff from flood events. TVA’s challenge in the
coming weeks will be to keep water levels in tributary reservoirs near target
levels. That’s according to Chuck
Bach, TVA General Manager for River Scheduling. “Our flow commitments increase
through the summer in order to protect water quality as river temperatures
increase as well as to maintain the flows needed for other river system
benefits," he says. That means we have to release more water from
the tributary reservoir system, which will make it hard to keep tributary
reservoirs at their flood guide levels without more rain.” But Bach says TVA will
certainly try. “Our operating strategy is to conserve every drop of water in
the tributary reservoir system that we can to help maintain summer pool levels.
We will continue to generate hydroelectric power with the water we release to
meet our flow requirements. But we will not release any extra water for power
purposes.” TVA isn’t releasing any
extra water to cool its thermal plants either, says Bach. “Using river water to cool
our nuclear and fossil plants saves a lot of money. But water used for cooling
is heated in the process. When that water is returned to the river, it can
cause downstream water temperatures to exceed the plant’s permit limits
especially under low-flow conditions. In the summer, we try to conserve water
in upstream reservoirs, so instead of providing the flow we would need to keep
river temperatures where they should be, we use cooling towers or reduce
generation at our nuclear- and coal-fired plants.” Balancing tributary
reservoir elevations will be another key focus in the weeks ahead, says Bach. He adds that if TVA needs to
release water from the tributary reservoir system to meet downstream flow
requirements, it will follow reservoir balancing guidelines to make sure it is
released equitably. When extra water is needed to
meet downstream flow requirements, TVA looks at the elevation of each reservoir
is relation to its balancing guide and flood guide. Then TVA decides how much
water to withdraw from specific reservoirs in order to bring reservoir
elevations into balance - in other words, to keep the elevation of each
reservoir similar relative to its position between the flood guide and the
balancing guide. Go to TVA’s River Management page for current
information about rain, reservoir elevations, and releases. In answer to your question about
summer reservoir elevations If TVA restricts
releases from my reservoir during the summer, why does the pool level sometimes
drop before Labor Day? The fact that releases are
restricted during the summer doesn’t mean there won’t be any drawdown prior to
Labor Day. Summers in the Tennessee
Valley are typically hot and dry. On average, only about an inch of rain
reaches the reservoir system per month during June, July, and August, and much
of that water quickly evaporates. As a result, in most years, there isn’t
enough water coming into the tributary reservoir system to replace the water
TVA must release to meet downstream minimum flow requirements, which causes a
gradual drop in tributary reservoir elevations through the summer. Minimum flow requirements
are set to ensure an adequate flow of water through the river system. They
specify the minimum amount of water needed to meet a broad range of river
system operating objectives, such as protecting aquatic life below tributary
dams by keeping the riverbed from drying out, maintaining suitable depths for
navigation on the main Tennessee River, keeping industrial and municipal
intakes covered with water, meeting recreation release commitments, and
providing the water needed to cool nuclear and coal-fired power plants and spin
the turbines at hydro-electric plants. Flood drills help TVA prepare for the worst
A hurricane has made
landfall on the Gulf coast and is tracking generally toward the northeast. The
National Weather Service predicts that it will stall out over the eastern part
of the Tennessee Valley. The forecast calls for 8 to 12 inches of rain at the
very least, with some locations getting close to a devastating 30 inches. And it gets worse... The remnants of another
tropical storm brought very heavy rainfall to the eastern Valley just a few
days earlier. TVA has been moving that water through the system as quickly as
possible, but many reservoirs are still above target levels. It's a sobering scenario,
but not at all unrealistic. In fact, that was exactly the situation TVA faced
in September 2004 after Hurricanes Frances and Ivan delivered a one-two punch
to the Gulf coast. And it is exactly the kind of situation that TVA prepares
for and trains for. “Hopefully, most of our
River Forecast Center staff will never have to deal with that kind of a
situation,” said David Bowling, Senior Management Advisor for TVA River
Scheduling. “But we conduct regular drills to make sure they are ready.” A lot of planning goes into
each drill, according to Bowling. “We try to simulate a real
event as closely as possible, including the uncertainty involved in dealing
with weather events and the sense of urgency involved when people's lives and
property are at stake. “The scenarios vary.
Sometimes we use a storm that was forecast to move into the Valley, but changed
tracks. Other times, we transpose an actual storm to a different location. Our
Forecast Center staff puts the predicted rain into our computer models,
determines potential impacts, and evaluates different operating strategies with
the goal of minimizing as much damage as possible. “We also practice
implementing our communication plans—for example, working with the National
Weather Service in predicting flood levels and with local emergency management
agencies in issuing warnings to the public.” December through early May
is the major flood season in the Tennessee Valley because runoff—the amount of
water that ends up in the river system after it rains—is higher and because
storms tend to be larger in the winter and early spring. But there is potential
for serious flooding even in June, July, and August due mainly to the remnants
of tropical storms and hurricanes. Being well prepared for
those types of events is critical, says Bowling. “We reserve less flood storage
space in TVA-managed reservoirs in the summer because there's less chance of a
major flood-producing storm. Plus, allowing reservoirs to fill to higher levels
gives us more water in storage, which helps to ensure that we will have water
available as needed to support navigation, water quality, recreation, and other
operating objectives. But it also means we've got to be ready to respond
quickly and correctly in the event of a major storm in order to minimize the
damage. That's when the experience we gain in simulating storms can really pay
off.” The National Weather Service
is predicting an 'active to extremely active' hurricane season for the Atlantic
basin this year, so that payoff could come soon. “You can't control when a
hurricane or other emergency may happen,” says Bowling, “but you can make sure
you're ready—and that's exactly what we're doing.” Aeration season is in full swing It happens every summer. As
the days get longer and hotter, the temperature of the surface water rises.
Since warm water is less dense than cold water, it literally floats on top of
the cooler water. This density difference inhibits mixing, resulting in thermal
stratification—the separation of water into horizontal layers due to
temperature differences. So what's the problem? If
the layers don't mix, the bottom water becomes trapped. The oxygen in the
deeper water isn't replenished by contact with the oxygen-rich surface water
and is gradually used up by decaying organic material, washed into the water
when it rains. This results in low dissolved oxygen levels in the lower layers
of the water column. Hydro turbine intakes typically draw water from the lower
part of the upstream reservoir, so this can also create low-oxygen conditions
immediately downstream of hydropower dams, especially during late summer and
early fall. To address this problem, TVA
has installed special aeration equipment at many of its dams to add oxygen to
the water. This equipment varies depending on conditions at each dam. At some
dams, TVA uses pumps resembling big ceiling fans to push warm, oxygen-rich
surface water downward, where it is mixed with low-oxygen bottom water and then
drawn in by the turbines during generation. At other dams, TVA has installed
oxygen-injection systems (a large-scale version of the same basic principle
that aerates your home aquarium—only using liquid oxygen instead of air);
constructed aerating weirs which mimic a natural waterfall, adding oxygen to
the water as it plunges over the top of the weir walls; and installed
auto-venting turbines which use low-pressure areas to draw air into the water
as power is being generated. “We keep a close watch on oxygen
levels and other water quality conditions throughout the summer,” says TVA
River Forecast Center manager Susan Jacks. “That way, we can minimize any
problems that may develop by adjusting flows or stepping up the use of aeration
equipment. That’s an enormous benefit to aquatic life, as well as to municipal
and industrial water users who depend on the river’s assimilative
capacity—especially during hot, dry summers such as the one we are currently
experiencing.” The arrival of fall, with
shorter days and cooler air temperatures, cools the surface water, gradually
allowing it to blend with more and more of the water column. By late October or
November, the reservoir has “turned over”—meaning temperatures and DO levels
are equalized from surface to bottom. Learn more about what
TVA is doing to improve oxygen conditions below hydropower dams near you Reminder: Blue Ridge drawdown begins
this month TVA will begin lowering the
level of Blue Ridge Reservoir in Fannin County, Georgia in mid July in order to
rehabilitate the dam. The drawdown will occur
gradually over a 16-week period with the goal of lowering the reservoir to an
elevation of 1,630 feet above sea level (57 feet lower than the usual summer
elevation) by November. The reservoir will be kept at an elevation between
1,620 and 1,630 feet above sea level until planned repairs to the penstock (the
underwater pipe that carries water from the reservoir to the turbines in the
powerhouse) can be completed. TVA expects to complete the
repairs in time to begin refilling the reservoir in April or mid-May 2011,
although unexpected events such as sustained heavy rains could prolong the
drawdown. TVA is installing a new
liner in the penstock, which was damaged due to excessive water pressure the
first time it was filled with water in 1931. TVA, which acquired the dam from
Tennessee Electric Power Company in 1939, has periodically lowered the water elevation
for dam safety inspections due to the deteriorating condition of the penstock. The penstock repairs will
begin during the regularly scheduled deep drawdown for the 2010 dam safety
inspection and should eliminate the need for regularly scheduled deep drawdowns
in the future. TVA also will reinforce the
intake tower and stabilize the upstream and downstream sides of the earthen dam
as part of the project. More information about the
project, the drawdown timeline, and construction milestones will be available
soon from the Blue
Ridge Dam Rehabilitation Project Web page. 7/6/2010
Environmental Protection Agency
July 15th Webcast: Healthy Lakeshores Through Better Shoreline Stewardship The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Watershed Academy is pleased to sponsor its 50th free Webcast Seminar on July 15, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern in honor of Lakes Appreciation Month. In this Webcast participants can learn about improving lakeshore habitat through better shoreline stewardship. EPA's first-ever assessment of the ecological condition of the nation's lakes, the National Lakes Assessment, identifies poor lakeshore habitat and high levels of nutrients as leading stressors affecting the biological health of lakes. Experts from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maine will share innovative local and statewide lakeshore protection initiatives, touching on both voluntary and regulatory measures. Anyone with an interest in lakes (such as lake and homeowner associations, natural resource agencies, state and local governments, anglers, realtors, and others) is invited to learn about the pressures to freshwater lakes and explore ways to make a difference. Webcast participants are eligible to receive a certificate for their attendance. Participants are encouraged to download presentations prior to the Webcast. Register for the Webcast at www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts.
6/29/2010 3:53:35 PM
Greeneville Sun
The couple also plans to buy a condo on Cherokee Lake. Parkins said he is looking forward to spending time there. He added that he would like to start ...
6/19/2010 6:57:24 AM
Knoxville News Sentinel
Special web stiffeners were added to the beams of the US 25 bridge over Cherokee Lake to prevent buckling under the weight of the convoy. ...
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