Management of the Cumberland River System

Tennessee Silver Jackets Meeting Old Hickory Lock and Dam 09 April 2014

Benjamin L. Rohrbach, P.E. Hydrology & Hydraulics Branch Chief Nashville District

US Army Corps of Engineers

BUILDING STRONG® Agenda

. Background . History and Authorizing Legislation . Authorized Purposes . The Water Management Challenge . Water Management Program . Flood Operations . Protecting the Lower Ohio and Mississippi . Summary BUILDING STRONG®

Background

BUILDING STRONG® US Army Corps of Engineers Division Boundaries

BUILDING STRONG® Great Lakes & Ohio River Division District Boundaries

BUILDING STRONG® Nashville District River Basins & Boundaries

Lieutenant Colonel John L. Hudson Commander and District Engineer Nashville District

BUILDING STRONG® Cumberland River Basin Reservoir System . Cumberland River Basin Flood Control Project Storage ► 2 Drainage area – 17,913 mi (acre-feet) ► Total length – 694 miles . System of 10 multi-purpose projects Wolf Creek 2,094,000 ► Flood Damage Reduction • 5.3 M acre-feet of flood storage Dale Hollow 353,000 • > $2 B in flood damages prevented ($115 M/yr) • 77 % of drainage area above Nashville is controlled Center Hill 762,000 ► Hydropower • 9/10 projects have hydropower J. Percy 350,000 • 914 MW capacity from 28 hydropower turbines Priest ► Navigation • 380 miles of navigable waterway (4 locks) Barkley 1,472,000 • 795 miles on TN River (10 locks) ► Recreation Total 5,031,000 • 5 Nashville District projects in top 25 nationally • 31.3 M visitors last year (> $700 M economic impact) ► Environmental Stewardship • Environmental restoration projects • Tremendous mussel and fish diversity • Home to two world record fish

BUILDING STRONG® History and Authorizing Legislation

BUILDING STRONG® Historic Flood 1926-1927

BUILDING STRONG® Historic Flood 1937

BUILDING STRONG® Low Water on the Cumberland River

BUILDING STRONG® Authorizing Legislation

. Flood Control Act of 1938: PL 75-761 ► Wolf Creek (construction finished in 1952) ► Dale Hollow (1953) ► Center Hill (1951) ► J. Percy Priest (1970) ► Three Islands ► Rossview ► Devil’s Jump . River and Harbor Act of 1946: PL 79-525 ► Celina ► Cordell Hull (1974) ► Old Hickory (1957) ► Cheatham (1959) ► Barkley (1966) . Flood Control Act of 1960: PL 86-645 ► Laurel (1977) . Flood Control Act of 1965: PL 89-298 ► Martins Fork (1978)

BUILDING STRONG® Authorized Purposes

BUILDING STRONG® Congressionally Authorized Project Purposes Flood Damage Commercial Project Hydropower Recreation Reduction Navigation

Wolf Creek Dam

Dale Hollow Dam

Center Hill Dam

J. Percy Priest Dam

Cordell Hull Lock & Dam

Old Hickory Lock & Dam

Cheatham Lock & Dam

Barkley Lock & Dam

Project not designed for this purpose

Project primarily designed BUILDING STRONG for this purpose ® BUILDING STRONG® Congressionally Authorized Project Purposes

Wolf Creek Dam Old Hickory Lock & Dam

. Project Design . Project Design ► Flood Damage Reduction ► Flood Surcharge Storage ► 37 ft zone ► 5 ft zone ► Volume - 2,094,000 acre-feet ► Volume - 125,000 acre-feet ► Hydropower ► Hydropower ► 50 ft zone ► 3 ft zone ► Volume – 2,142,000 acre-feet ► Volume – 63,000 acre-feet ► Commercial Navigation

BUILDING STRONG® Scale and Impact to the System Lake Cumberland Available Storage Flood 760’ Control Pool 740’ Louisville District (20) 726’ May 2011 Level 700’ (Reduced Huntington District (35) flooding by 660’ 1.2’ at Cairo, IL) Elevation Elevation 620’ Pittsburgh District (17)

580’

540’ 460 480 500 520 540 560 Cumberland River Mile

BUILDING STRONG® The Water Management Challenge

. Water Control . Water Quality . Balancing Act . Project Authorized Purposes . Environmental Statutes . Changing Societal Values/Expectations

BUILDING STRONG® Hydropower Water Supply

Environmental Stewardship

USACE Navigation Water Management

Flood Damage Reduction Recreation

BUILDING STRONG® TDEC EPA Cumberland SEPA TVA River Compact Environmental Organizations

Hydropower Water USFWS Private Supply Utilities Environmental Boaters Stewardship

Towing Industry USACE KDFWR Navigation Water Emergency Management Management

TVA

TVA KDFWR Flood Damage Public Reduction

NWS TWRA Recreation

Recreation Recreation Interests FEMA Industry

BUILDING STRONG® Water Management Program

. Water Quality ► Data Collection • 7 real-time water quality monitors • 4 real-time temperature • 62 stream sampling sites • 95 reservoir sampling sites ► Water Quality Modeling • Project specific CE-QUAL-W2 models • System water quality modeling ► Water Quality Restoration • Dissolved oxygen • Minimum flow

BUILDING STRONG® Water Management Program

Water Control Program . Data Collection Program • Project data from 10 multi- purpose projects • 75 rainfall sites • 45 river stage sites . Hydrology, Hydraulic, and Reservoir Simulation Modeling . Reservoir System Operations • Daily analysis of reservoir conditions • Balance operating objectives • Prepare 8-day forecast

BUILDING STRONG® Water Management Team

. Nashville District Water Management ► Multidisciplinary staff – engineers & scientists ► Perform complete system analysis every day . Nashville District Hydropower Operators ► 24/7 operational support . Great Lakes & Ohio River Water Management ► Ohio/Mississippi flood control operations ► Program oversight . Federal Partners ► Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) ► National Weather Service ► U. S. Geological Survey

BUILDING STRONG® Water Management Center

BUILDING STRONG® Flood Operations

National Weather Service 1 NWS generates observed radar rainfall Nashville USACE Water Management

Nashville WM runs hydrology models to 2 forecast reservoir releases National Weather Service

NWS uses forecast reservoir releases 3 and rainfall to predict flood stages Public

BUILDING STRONG® Wolf Creek Inflow & Discharge (2011)

150,000150,000 730 Discharge (cfs) (cfs) Inflow (cfs) (cfs) 725 Headwater (ft) 125,000125,000 720

715 100,000100,000 710

705 75,00075,000 700 Flow (cfs) Flow (cfs)

695 Headwater (ft) 50,00050,000 690

25,00025,000 685

680

00 675 2/12/1 2/82/8 2/152/15 2/222/22 3/13/1 3/83/8 3/153/15 3/223/22 3/293/29 4/54/5 4/124/12 4/194/19 4/264/26 5/35/3 5/105/10

BUILDING STRONG® Cumberland River Stage at Nashville (2011)

Observed vs Natural River Stage for Nashville 45

Nashville Stage (ft) Stage Nashville 20

Observed with Projects 10 Natural River Conditions Flood Stage 5 2/1 2/8 2/15 2/22 3/1 3/8 3/15 3/22 3/29 4/5 4/12 4/19 4/26 5/3 5/10

BUILDING STRONG® 2013 Wolf Creek Dam Inflow & Discharge

120,000 Discharge Inflow 100,000

80,000

60,000 Flow (cfs)

40,000

20,000

0 1/1 1/16 1/31 2/15 3/2 3/17 4/1 4/16 5/1 5/16 6/1 6/16 7/1 7/16

BUILDING STRONG® Cumberland River Stage at Nashville

Observed vs Natural Stage for Nashville (2013) 45

20 Nashville Stage (ft)

Observed with Projects 10 Natural River Conditions Flood Stage Low Water Navigation Impacts 5 1/1 1/16 1/31 2/15 3/2 3/17 4/1 4/16 5/1 5/16 6/1 6/16 7/1 7/16

BUILDING STRONG® Protecting the Lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers

Smithland Lock

Lock 53

Lock 52 Paducah

Canal

Cairo

Birds Point- New Madrid Floodway

BUILDING STRONG® Kentucky-Barkley Canal

BUILDING STRONG® Kentucky-Barkley Flood Operations

National Weather NWS forecasts flooding on the lower 1 Service Ohio & upper Mississippi Rivers Tennessee Valley Authority & Nashville WM

TVA & Nashville WM forecast inflows and 2 reservoir stages on Kentucky & Barkley Lakes

Lakes & Rivers Division Headquarters LRD coordinates Kentucky & Barkley releases 3 to reduce flooding on the Ohio & Mississippi Kentucky & Barkley Operators

BUILDING STRONG® Operation Watershed

Operation Watershed - Wolf Creek Dam 730 Observed 4/26/2011 – 5/4/2011 Without Reductions 725 Top of Hydropower Pool Rainfall & Project Operations 720

715

710

Cumberland River Basin Elevation (ft)

705

700

Barkley Lock & Dam 695 4/12 4/22 5/2 5/12 5/22 6/1

Cordell Hull Lock & Dam Wolf Creek Dam Cheatham Lock & Dam

Old Hickory Lock & Dam

Operation Watershed - Dale Hollow Dam 664 Top of Flood Control Pool

662 Observed Without Reductions

Storage conserved in 660 Barkley and Kentucky 658 4.65 feet 656 Dale Hollow Dam Elevation (ft)

654 Dale Hollow – 0.51’ 652 J. Percy Priest – 0.65’ Top of Hydropower Pool 650 4/12 4/22 5/2 5/12 5/22 6/1 Center Hill – 0.95’

Operation Watershed - Center Hill Dam 660 Observed Wolf Creek – 2.54’ Without Reductions J. Percy Priest Dam 655

650 Top of Hydropower Pool Operation Watershed - J. Percy Priest Dam 506 645 Top of Flood Control Pool 504 Observed Center Hill Dam 640 Without Reductions Elevation (ft) 502

635 500

498 630

496

Elevation (ft) 625 4/12 4/22 5/2 5/12 5/22 6/1 Storage at Peak Elevation 494

492 Available 490 488 4/12 4/22 5/2 5/12 5/22 6/1 Peak BUILDING STRONG® Pie area scaled to storage capacity Water Stored After February 24, 2011

Headwater Headwater Water Stored Project (02/24/2011) Crest (acre-feet)

Wolf Creek1 681.12 725.96 1,992,000 Dale Hollow 643.75 660.16 459,000 Center Hill1 625.70 658.15 576,000 J. Percy Priest 483.75 501.65 280,000 Total 3,307,0002

1 Wolf Creek and Center Hill Dams have been classified as DSAC 1 dams and are under pool restrictions to assure the stability of the dams. 2 This volume of water is roughly equivalent to 1.08 quadrillion gallons of water BUILDING STRONG or if stacked on a football field it would be 3.2 million feet (606 miles) high. ® Protecting the Lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers

Smithland Lock

Lock 53

Lock 52 Paducah

Canal

Cairo May 2011 Flood Stage Reduction at Cairo Birds Point- New . 2-ft (0.62-m) due to Madrid Floodway Cumberland River Projects .0.8-ft (0.24-m) due to Tennessee River Projects .3.8-ft (1.2-m) for all LRD Storage Projects

BUILDING STRONG® Summary

BUILDING STRONG® Cumberland River System Water Management

. Requires coordinated operation of a complex system to fulfill a wide range of often competing purposes and benefits . Flood Damage Reduction for the Cumberland as well as the Ohio/Mississippi averages $149 M per year . Hydropower production at nine plants worth ~$35 M per year . Recreation valued at $568 M per year, the highest for a Corps district in the nation . Navigation for ~73 M tons of commodities per year over 1,175 river miles with 14 lock & dams on the Tennessee & Cumberland Rivers . Cumberland River projects play a critical role in a regional system, including the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers . Federal Partners including Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), National Weather Service, and U.S. Geological Survey are important members of the water management team

BUILDING STRONG® Questions?

BUILDING STRONG®