Did You Know...

. . . that, without several storage reservoirs owned by Alabama Power Company, the recent severe drought in the Southeast could have rendered the South a disaster area?

The Southeast has experienced a prolonged drought that began in August 1999. The drought has caused widespread hardship, historically low reservoirs, increased power costs, limits on recreational use, affected water supply and limited navigation. However, the storage projects did exactly what the engineers designed them to do during a drought - augment downstream flows so that needs were met. Storage releases on the Warrior River increased the base inflow by about 75 percent. On the Alabama River, releases from the tributary Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers, increased natural flows by 50 percent, to more than 2,000 cfs.

Alabama Power met with State and Federal agencies to discuss drought issues during early March 2000. Although electric energy production was near an all time low, critical water needs were still being met. However, fulfilling future demands required increased flows to meet a variety of needs - reservoir filling, fish attraction flows, recreational releases and water quality releases would require increased flows in the coming months. An agreement was reached to reduce flows to conserve reservoir storage and meet basic needs should the drought persist. Although some rainfall occurred in March and early April and normal releases resumed, the drought re-occurred by mid-May. This required a return to the lower releases to conserve water.

Thanks to Andy Sheppard, Coordinator of Reservoir Operations for the Southern Company, for contributing this Benefits of Dams.

(reprinted from the USCOLD Newsletter, July 2000, page 3)