Tellico Village residents question TVA about changes to dams
Residents were concerned about the cost, the visual impact and the need for the $6 million project to raise the height of the Tellico, Watts Bar, Fort Loudoun and Cherokee dams using "sand basket" barriers.
"It's tremendously unattractive. It looks like we're under siege," said Tellico Village resident Rich Scott.
Probably the issue at the top of most residents' agendas was the lack of proper notification of the project.
"The lack of sharing and getting information out was just pathetic," said resident Dennis Wielgos.
TVA tried to notify all relevant agencies, including the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service, said Chuck Bach, TVA's general manager of river scheduling. The agency also made an effort to contact local government officials and media, he said.
State Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Loudon, said he took exception to the idea that his office was properly notified of the program. TVA sent an e-mail message to his office but there was no attempt made to discuss the impact of the decision before work started, he said.
The result, Matlock said, was the creation of a climate of unnecessary fear and uncertainty among local residents.
Bach attempted to explain the need for urgency in completing the project while at the same time insisting that the actual likelihood of the dam's reaching overflow was extremely remote.
The need for the extra height on the dams is based on new modeling techniques and new data collection efforts that raised the maximum probable flood levels.
The agency takes dam safety very seriously and was required to act as soon as possible, Bach said. The presence of nuclear power plants down river increased the need to act as soon as the increased risk was determined.
The risk of a severe flood that would require the increased height of the dams is about one event every few hundred thousand years, Bach said. Still, he said, the flood could come at any time and the agency wanted to be prepared.
Bach acknowledged that he'd been told the "sand boxes" on the dams were ugly, but defended their use because they represented the quickest solution to the problem. The sand barriers will be used for several years while a permanent fix is created, he said.