Nolichucky Dam is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

on the

Nolichucky River The Nolichucky River is a river that flows through Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. Traversing the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the river's wate ...

near Greeneville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, maintained by the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

(TVA).Nolichucky River, in Tennessee Watersheds - EAST
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation website The dam is located just over upstream from the mouth of the Nolichucky, and impounds Davy Crockett Lake, which extends upstream from the dam. The dam is a concrete gravity overflow type dam high and long.Nolichucky Dam and Davy Crockett Reservoir

website The dam has an

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

-type spillway with a flashboard crest. Its reservoir, Davy Crockett Lake (named for the folk figure who was born a few miles upstream from the modern dam site in 1786), has roughly of water surface.Tennessee Valley Authority, ''Design of TVA Projects Volume3: Mechanical Design of Hydro Plants'', Technical Report No. 24 (Washington, D.C.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1952), 301-302. Nolichucky Dam was built by the Tennessee Eastern Electric Company (TEEC) in 1912-1913 for

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

generation. The dam was initially equipped with two generators, and TEEC added two more in 1923. In 1941, the East Tennessee Light & Power Company obtained ownership of the dam when it purchased TEEC's assets.Finding Aid for East Tennessee Light and Power Company Records
East Tennessee State University — Archives of Appalachia. Retrieved: 21 January 2009. The Tennessee Valley Authority purchased East Tennessee Light & Power in 1945 for a lump sum that included $1.47 million for Nolichucky Dam. TVA made various improvements, and at its height, the dam was capable of producing 10,640 kilowatts of electricity. TVA used the dam for power generation until 1972, when

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

buildup in Davy Crockett Lake made continued electricity generation impractical. The dam and reservoir are now used for

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

and recreation; the reservoir is a wildlife management area. The continued sediment buildup is resulting in upstream flooding.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Nolichucky Dam
Nolichucky Dam and Davy Crockett Reservoir
— TVA site

— Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency *Archives of Appalachia - East Tennessee Light and Power Company Records Dams on the French Broad River Tennessee Valley Authority dams Dams in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Greene County, Tennessee Dams completed in 1913 1913 establishments in Tennessee