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| FishTails |
Corps Assures Power Plant Will Not Impact Lake Levels
at Summersville
By Chris Lawrence
Anglers fishing Summersville Lake have often enjoyed powerful fishing along the riprap rock that forms the dam
on West Virginia's mightiest lake. However, many may not realize that by year's end, the other side of that wall
will be producing power of its own-literally. Catamount Energy is expected to go on line with a new 55-Million
dollar hydroelectric plant operating off the flows from the Summersville spillways once testing is completed.
The creation of the plant, that is a joint venture of the City of Summersville, the Corps of Engineers, and Catamount,
has led to growing concerns about the impact on the lake. Boaters, marina owners, and fishermen are leery of widely
fluctuating lake levels during the summer months. The whitewater rafting industry fears the spout may be left on
too long and wash the lake's summer pool, along with millions of dollars in revenue from the Gauley River rafting
season down the creek in the fall.
Not so, says C.J. Hamilton with the Corps of Engineers.
"It's a big concern to all of the user groups and there's lots of misinformation out there. There are a lot
of people who think the lake will be monkeyed with in order to maximize power production-and that's simply not
true."
Hamilton says on the contrary, power production will be a secondary function of the lake. The hydro-turbines will
wind only when the lake's overflow is at a sufficient level to produce electricity. Any other time-the turbines
will sit idle. Hamilton says historical data on the flows indicates the power production will be possible about
60% of the time.
"They can generate power when flows are anywhere in the range of 700 cubic feet per second or CFS up to 4,000
CFS. When the releases are below 700 CFS, they won't generate. If they're above 4,000 CFS, they'll generate and
we'll release the excess water through the other spillways."
Those who have fished the Ohio River or many of the Tennessee Valley Authority lakes across the south know that
rising and falling waters can be both a curse and a blessing on the activity of fish---a lot depends on timing
and when you're there. Tygart Lake serves as an example of the difficulties posed when lake levels fluctuate from
one extreme to another. One biologist once described Tygart as 'trying to manage fish in a toilet bowl.'
"It has a narrow license authority for the plant." Says Hamilton, "It is not on par with the Congressionally
authorized purposes of the dam which are flood control, low flow augmentation, recreation, and fish and wildlife.
So it's kind of an auxiliary purpose of the lake."
Electricity generated by the hydroelectric facility will be sold to other public utilities to cover their needs
in peak demand periods. However, fishermen can be at ease, says Hamilton, that the pressures if those peak demands
fall in a time of low flow, will not cause the lake to be lowered.
"The power plant is a 'run of the river' operation, which means we will not peak or pulse the lake for power
production. The license simply states they will utilize whatever flow we were going to release from Summersville
Dam on a given day-and if those flows are sufficient to generate power-then they will go ahead and generate power."
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| Summersville Lake in 2001 |
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| Construction continues on the new 55-Million dollar hydroelectric plant
operating off the flows from the Summersville spillways. |
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