Water Management Situation Report for Cumberland River Basin Reservoir System and Associated Waterways

In July, the Cumberland River Compact facilitated a meeting among the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the ecological health and conditions of the Cumberland River system as a result of work on Wolf Creek and Center Hill Dams.

The agencies agreed an integrated report from all three to the public would serve to enhance communication and the public's overall awareness of the conditions vital to the ecosystems, and human populations depending on them for life.

The Compact is proud to host this integrated partner report from these agencies which will be updated three times annually through the completion of work on both dams. Our water resources operate as a system. Each change to that system - whether natural or man-made in origin - affects the rest of the entire system. In this complex arrangement of chemical, biological and physical overlays, communication among the human management team is crucial. We congratulate and heartily thank each agency for helping us to help you to know more about the water quality in your Cumberland River Basin.

- Margo Farnsworth, Cumberland River Compact

The Cumberland River and its branches or tributaries drain approximately 18,000 square miles of southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee. Systemwide, the Corps' priorities are: human health & safety, water supply, water quality, navigation, hydropower, and recreation - in that order. For this reason, the Corps is generating very little power at present to protect the quality of the Cumberland. Comprehensive water management in the Cumberland River system is carried out by the Nashville District Corps of Engineers (Corps) using a series of multipurpose dams and reservoirs.

These consist of a combination large storage type reservoirs, mainly located on tributaries, and main stem navigation projects located on the Cumberland River. The exception to this is Lake Cumberland which is on the main-stem of the Cumberland River, but is operated as a tributary type storage project in south central Kentucky. The run-of-the-river navigation projects generally have limited flood storage capacity. Typically the storage reservoirs hold water for long periods of time which allows for strong seasonal formation of layers of different temperatures in a lake or reservoir. This layering is called "thermal stratification". On the main stem, navigation projects usually develop only weak stratification or layering.

The normal operational patterns of the reservoir system in the Cumberland River Basin have been drastically altered due to dam safety concerns at both Wolf Creek and Center Hill. At Wolf Creek, major repairs are underway to fix foundation seepage problems. In order to reduce pressure on the dam and reduce the size and extent of any flooding that could result from a potential dam failure, most of the normal power pool has been evacuated, leaving a much lower pool and consequently small reservoir behind the dam. This move has major ramifications for water management on the Cumberland River even downstream from Nashville.

Center Hill Dam on the Caney Fork River also has structural integrity issues, and is now being operated at a lower level than normal. Quite simply, water that normally would be available to keep the Cumberland River in good condition during the late summer and fall is not available. Because of this, various measures have been undertaken by the Nashville District Corps of Engineers to protect environmental resources during this period of reduced flows.

A project by project summary of water management conditions can be accessed using the Table of Contents on the right.