2010 Cheoah River High Flow Events

Content

Welcome!

Introduction

The calendars below describe the "high flow events" tentatively scheduled for the Cheoah River below Santeetlah Dam in 2010.  Note that by passing your cursor over the colored calendar cells the release information will appear in a pop-up text window.  American Whitewater negotiated these releases;  you are a member, right?

Gage Information

Although any release of 300cfs or above is considered "high water" under the terms of the FERC license (see pages 49-53 for release details), most boaters agree that 850cfs is the minimum boatable release if running the entire river.  The amount of water in the streambed is frequently greater than the release, especially after heavy rain.  Boatable releases except (February's)are supposed to last 8 hours and are supposed to start at either 8am or 9am, depending on the month, with the water reaching the USFS put-in about a half-hour after it is released and the O'Henry's put-in a half-hour later (i.e., about an hour after the release).  The water drops faster than it rises -- within about 15 minutes in the case of the USGS put-in.  Note, however, that the releases have not always begun on time and sometimes end early.

Between late November 2009 and early January 2010 there were a significant number of unscheduled releases.  This may be the consequence of heavy rain combined with a decision by Alcoa to maintain higher lake levels in order to increase the /"head/" (hence power generated) in their hydroelectric operations.  Hopefully this pattern will continue in the future.  Watch for unscheduled boatable flows on the boatingbeta flow page.

Notes

Under the terms their licence to divert the Cheoah's waters, Alcoa is required to give 12 months notice of the "high flow events" they propose for the coming year.  Historically they have done this at the end of January.  Here's a link to next year's proposed high flow events:  2011 Cheoah River proposed high flow events.  Alcoa provides a scheduled release page with the dates but neither the release times nor flows.  Here's the link: Alcoa's Cheoah release page.