Aficionados of western North Carolina’s lakes will be delighted to learn that water levels should be high enough to make all their water sports and related recreational activities enjoyable during the coming warm months.
“We have had enough rain and runoff this spring so that reservoirs are looking real good,” said TCA’s River Management expert James Everett. “We try to keep lakes as high as we can for recreational use. We want to have as much water as possible because receation is such a draw here.”
Everett, TVA Senior Program Manager Travis Brickey and TVA Recreation Strategy and Tourism Development Specialist Jerry Fouse stopped by the Clay County Progress office Monday to give their annual report on the status of local waterways.
On that date they noted that the water level in Chatuge Lake was about 1,925 feet, the level in Nottely at 1,775 and Hiwassee at 1,564. Hourly updates are available on the Web site at: www.tva.gov/environment/lake-levels and also on a free application that can be downloaded on Smartphones and other devices.
“During the summer when we release water from the tributary dams at Chatuge and Nottley the flow is less,” Everett explained.