river destruction

[oochee hunter]

Got toget this off my chest. I,ve been living on my farm for 45 years, never in all these years have I seen the oconee river level fluctuate like it does now. Every somewhat significant rain above sinclair seems to cause rapid rise and fall of the river below the dam. It is getting to be very concerning. Many years ago I attended a meeting concerning the licence for ga power to continue power production, the method of storing and releasing water was discussed with many folks in agreement that it was destructive to the river eco system. The licence was granted to no surprise to anyone there, but the extremes did not seem any more than had been in past years. Fast forward to today, the river levels are constantly radically rising and falling. Years past, freshings, as the old timers called them occured seldom, now they are coming very often, this one we are experiencing now will be 9 in 12 months. Our river banks are collapsing from saturation then extreme drops when the water is cut off at the dam. Complete sand bars have moved across the river. I guess keeping the residents of sinclair and oconee lakes , white perch and bass fishing, take priority over the health of our river system. Dang it !! I feel better now.

 

[treemanjohn]

There's a lot of asphalt and concrete covering the ground. That causes severe flash flooding

 

[LTZ25]

Lake levels on Oconee and Sinclair remain constant and a little low , Sinclair is never at 340 level , tens of thousands of people use those lake and pay a large percent of property taxes so that may explain things a little . I think they should keep Sinclair up at full pool . Were is the water going , cause it’s not in Sinclair .

 

[westcobbdog]

water runoff from impervious surfaces, like roads driveways parking lots would be a big culprit. I bet water temps can rise too esp with the summer run off.

 

[Throwback]

Could them tearing down the coal tower have anything to do with it? Maybe changing how the flow is managed?


With that said some of the above posters have a point

The chattahoochee at West Point rises precipitously when it rains in Atlanta because so much of the water runs over pavement

 

[Milkman]

This is my understanding of power production at Lakes Sinclair and Oconee.

The now demolished power plant on Sinclair used lake water to produce steam to generate electricity. Sinclair dam is not a typical power plant dam with forced water turbines. It is just a dam with flood gates to help control lake levels.

Lake Oconee dam has typical turbines using water flow through the dam to generate electricity. After flowing water through the dam into Sinclair the water is pumped back into Oconee the next day.

@Nicodemus could confirm this.

I assume the OP is referring to the river below Sinclair dam.

 

[cowhornedspike]

What do you think the river did after a big rain before there were any dams on the river?

 

[kmckinnie]

What do you think the river did after a big rain before there were any dams on the river?

They say they flowed natural with a rise and fall but more gradually. The adding of dams created the floods. Above and below. Above several join in from natural tributaries and back up. Not allowing the natural flow where each branch joining make a bigger river and so on down to where it empty’s. Well now they have to dump everything that backed up that was not allowed to flow natural. Thus creating the flood to the down side of the dam.
Man interfered with the natural flow to make lakes and produce power.

The Green movement has not thought of this yet ?

 

[oldguy]

What do you think the river did after a big rain before there were any dams on the river?

Want to see an example? Check out the USGS web site for gauges along the Flint River.
The gauge near Carsonville on Highway 19 shows the flow after a heavy rainfall up stream as a smooth bell-shaped curve rise and and fall. The two gauges at Oakfield and Albany show ex-stream fluctuations up and down (not natural). The dam managers explain that what comes in goes out. There also agreements w/environmental groups in Fla. to keep water in the Appalachicola to protect sturgeon & certain mussels - require pulsing from the Chattahoochee & the Flint. Personally I don't see how this pulsing thing can help but be destructive to the Flint River ecosystem. Fish build beds at high water. Mussels move up to take advantage of new ground (under water). Water drops. Beds and mussels left high and dry. Set some limb lines one evening to take advantage of high water. Checking hooks next morning had a catfish half out of the water. It's the world we live in. $$$$$ ..."Money, money, money-y-y-y..."
An inch of water on an acre = 26K+ GALLONS OF WATER. Every new acre of impervious surface, roads, parking lots, roof-tops, etc. adds more run-off = higher river flows.

 

[cowhornedspike]

The dam managers explain that what comes in goes out.

Is that not would happen if the dam wasn't there?

 

[oochee hunter]

Yes, I am below lake sinclair. My problem is not flooding, that occurs naturally and always will and has, its the man made flooding from lake level manipulation. Extreme rise and fall caused by dumping then stopping the water discharge from the lake. It.s taking a toll on our river system, been here a long time and can attest to it.

 

[oochee hunter]

They say they flowed natural with a rise and fall but more gradually. The adding of dams created the floods. Above and below. Above several join in from natural tributaries and back up. Not allowing the natural flow where each branch joining make a bigger river and so on down to where it empty’s. Well now they have to dump everything that backed up that was not allowed to flow natural. Thus creating the flood to the down side of the dam.
Man interfered with the natural flow to make lakes and produce power.

The Green movement has not thought of this yet ?

Bingo!

 

[oldguy]

Is that not would happen if the dam wasn't there?

Did you look at the USGS website graph? A smooth bell shaped curve rise and fall w/o a dam. Drastic pulsing up and down with a dam.

 

[Nicodemus]

This is my understanding of power production at Lakes Sinclair and Oconee.

The now demolished power plant on Sinclair used lake water to produce steam to generate electricity. Sinclair dam is not a typical power plant dam with forced water turbines. It is just a dam with flood gates to help control lake levels.

Lake Oconee dam has typical turbines using water flow through the dam to generate electricity. After flowing water through the dam into Sinclair the water is pumped back into Oconee the next day.

@Nicodemus could confirm this.

I assume the OP is referring to the river below Sinclair dam.

Since Harllee Branch has been shut down and I`ve been retired for 8 years and out of the loop, I don`t really know the workings of what`s going on up there anymore.

If it was left up to me, every dam on every waterway in Georgia would be blown away or quicksilvered, and let them go back to their natural course.

 

[oochee hunter]

Did you look at the USGS website graph? A smooth bell shaped curve rise and fall w/o a dam. Drastic pulsing up and down with a dam.

exactly! Look at it often.

 

[Artfuldodger]

It sounds like something related to man's intervention with nature when they straightened the Kissimmee River in Florida. Seems like it made silt fill up the Everglades.

It sounds almost superhuman to try straighten a river and then recarve the curves.

That's what federal and state officials did to the Kissimmee River in Central Florida. They straightened the river in the 1960s into a canal to drain swampland and make way for the state's explosive growth. It worked — and it created an ecological disaster. So officials decided to restore the river's slow-flowing, meandering path.

 

[oochee hunter]

It,s good to know some of you guys have the same concerns as I do. In reality there is nothing to be done . Lake life is much more important i suppose.

 

[Artfuldodger]

I guess all the rivers are naturally flooded at the moment. This is the Rocky Hammock Landing on the Ocmulgee River in Coffee County.

 

[oldguy]

Never fished the Ogeechee. Have a friend who lives right on it. Cool looking little river.

 

[trad bow]

I retired from the power plant on Sinclair after 41 years there. We used lake water to cool off the steam in a condenser so it could be sent back thru the boiler. This was highly treated and filtered water. We tried to not have to add makeup water to boiler/turbine condensate cycles because off the cost of treating that water. The only time this water was returned to lake was on a unit shutdown when either maintenance or load reduction was performed. The cooling water used at the plant was a once thru design where water came into plant from Little River side and discharged into Beaverdam creek. This caused no fluctuations to the river system below Sinclair.
The river below Sinclair fluctuated from just a few reason. First was power Generation from Sinclair Dam. It has two generators. That water is discharge into the tailrace area. The generation schedule was determined by a central location in Alabama. Usually at peak power demands early in morning when load system wide demands a quick rise in megawatts and again in evening when people return home. Hydros can be brought on line and off line quickly.
Rainfall has a great impact on the river. The lakes have a built in storage capacity for excess water but once that is reached all water coming into the lake has to be released. That’s when the flooding occurs downstream. The two units at Sinclair cannot handle that much water as the generator cannot operate above design capacity. Once so much water is release out of the water control gates(flood gates) the river starts flooding and water starts backing up to generators causing them to not operate.
On
A minor issue is rainfall below Sinclair This causes localized flooding and doesn’t last long.
Plant Hatch is on the Altamaha river and enough water has to be released for that plants need. That water comes from lakes Sinclair and Jackson.
Also the EPA and the DNR sets minimum water flows for the protection of the fishery of the river below Sinclair and Jackson.
The mention of the amount of runoff into our rivers due to the amount of paved surfaces is a big problem. Not only with excess water running into the river, the pollutants that that water has and the amount of litter that gets wash in is all man made and should be an embarrassment to us all.