Releasing the water at Norris Dam

Shane731

Shane731

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Every so often, the folks at Norris Dam release water from the reservoir in order to make room for future rain events. This is not a frequent occurence - matter of fact the last time they released water from the reservoir was in May 2009, and before that May 2003. So this isn't something that happens very often, and when it does, it's kind of a big deal. Well, I had never gotten to see this before, and so I thought I would share it with you. Quick bit of info on Norris Dam - it is owned and operated by TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority, a government-owned independent corporation that supplies water and electricity to TN and other portions of the Southeastern United States). From Wikipedia: Norris Dam is a straight concrete gravity-type dam. The dam is 1860 feet (570 m) long and 265 feet (81 m) high. Norris Lake, the largest reservoir on a tributary of the Tennessee River, has 33,840 acres (137 km²) of water surface and 809 miles (1302 km) of shoreline. The dam has a maximum generating capacity of 131,400 kilowatts.

Just an FYI, the release rate was 3 million - 3.5 million gallons of water per minute. But here is a few pics and videos - some of you might find this boring, but I thought it was kinda cool. I must apologize for the quality and lack of sound on the videos - my camera is not that hot and it does not have a microphone to record sound. Wasn't much to listen to anyway - just a dull roar like a waterfall. Enjoy!



as viewed from atop the dam






[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_caqcuCfAI]YouTube - Water spilling down Norris Dam[/video]



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRKHK4Yz38]YouTube - spill flow at Norris Dam[/video]

water flowing down the dam from the reservoir




[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slTskx37wlQ]YouTube - Norris Dam[/video]

view of the reservoir






[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7lKDIUhmKk]YouTube - the Norris reservoir[/video]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVWZeMEnZNM]YouTube - view of Norris Dam from the Overlook[/video]







[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89d8o4_8C2g]YouTube - Current below the dam[/video]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqnk6lJOFY]YouTube - Norris Dam flow[/video]


Thanks for looking!
 
Awesome. I had no idea they were doing it. I should of gone and looked at it. I think I will next time! How did you find out?
 
maximus20895 said:
Awesome. I had no idea they were doing it. I should of gone and looked at it. I think I will next time! How did you find out?
Click to expand...

News channel WBIR had a thing about it on their website: TVA spilling water over Norris Dam | wbir.com. I think they started releasing the water at like 4 PM last Monday and plan(ned) to do it for like 10 days, so if you can get out there maybe Tuesday or Wednesday they might still be releasing water. Pretty cool if you've never seen it before.
 
That actually is pretty cool. I would have liked to had a good camera and got some shots of that.
 
Oh, I had no idea that it is for several days. I'll try to make it out there!

And btw, 10 days is 14,400 minutes X 3,250,000 gallons = 46,800,000,000 (Forty Six Billion Eight Hundred Million Gallons)
 
That's very interesting! Thanks for sharing, Shane.
 
I really hope the Cumberland doesn't flood again this year. I work for Arby's and just transferred to the one right across from the river, and last year it was 4 feet under!
 
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