Although rafting companies on the Ocoee River increasingly are concerned that TVA might have to close the river to rafting while repairing its rock slide-damaged flume, the agency says keeping the river open is a top priority -- right behind the No. 1 priority of safety.
"It may be that we revert to the old schedule of closing the river on Tuesdays and Wednesdays" and work on repairs then, Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Travis Brickey said.
That plan would suit rafters, who are struggling this spring after a late start, thanks to last year's rock slide that closed U.S. Highway 64 and this spring's cool weekends and chilled economy.
"It would be a catastrophe for us now for TVA to shut the river down in the summer" for flume work, said Jerry Hamby, owner of Lake Ocoee Inn and Marina and Ocoee Inn Rafting.
On May 28, a new rock slide smashed about 70 feet of TVA's historic, wooden flume that carries water to the Ocoee River hydropower generators. With the flume out, the river is flowing freely again.
Shortly after the latest rock slide, there was talk of rafters expanding their river days to make up for their season's late start.
But Mr. Hamby and Keith Jenkins, owner of Quest Expeditions and president of the Outfitters Association, said the rafting companies have not put boats on the water on what have been traditionally dry-river days -- Tuesday and Wednesday.
It was too hard to change decades of advertising and tradition, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which regulates the put ins, asked those days remain closed to rafters.
"When we've run since 1984 with no water on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it makes it difficult to change gears and operate on Tuesday and Wednesday," Mr. Jenkins said.
Mr. Brickey said TVA still has no repair cost estimate. The agency also has no forecast of how long repairs will take, he said.
"Before we can even start on the repair of the flume, we have to put in some rock bolts" in the gorge wall, Mr. Brickey said Monday.
Contractors will be looking at the flume and the slide site in coming weeks to prepare bids, he said.
Until the flume is repaired, TVA is losing the capability of generating a total of 23 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 13,400 homes, Mr. Brickey said.
ABOUT THE FLUME
* The flume, or wooden trough, carries water by gravity from Ocoee No. 2 dam to a bluff five miles downstream, where the water drops through two large steel pipes, called penstocks, to the No. 2 powerhouse about 250 feet below.
* The flume and its water drop allow the amount of power generated by the 30-foot-high dam to equal that of a 250-foot-high dam.
* Constructed in 1912, the flume is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is about 14 feet wide and 12 feet deep. It is built along the face of a bluff above the Ocoee River.
Source: TVA
Continue reading by following these links to related stories: