Hi everyone! Today was our third
day in the program and we toured the Chickamauga Dam and went paddle boarding.
The tour of the dam was a great experience! We were even joined by some long-time employees of TVA who were interested
in touring the dam. We learned
about and toured the huge turbines, the control room, and one of the
generators.
We started out with a basic description of the dam, what it does and
how it works from dam manager, Tony Townsend. Annette Moore, a female engineer who is the
manager of the Ocoee dam system, also joined us. She told us about dam
operation and women in the field of engineering and science. Then we went down
and got to see how big the turbines were and we got to look inside of one to
see how they work. The tools that would be used on those things were HUGE!
When we walked outside over the dam, the water was pretty low. Then
an alarm went off and we got to see them spill water through the dam, adding
water to the head of the Nickajack Lake. We watched the water churn and there were a
lot of blue herons that would swoop down to get fish out of the water once the
dam was opened.
We walked around and got to see the new locks that they are
trying to build for the dam, but at the moment it was not under construction
and was filled with water. The concrete in the dam expands a little every year
so they have to cut out slivers of it so the pressure does not build up too
much. In the winter this year they cut out a 2 inch or so sliver from the dam
and now it is all closed up. It must be cut regularly to keep up the
efficiency of the dam.
We also learned that TVA supplies
hydroelectric power to distributors like electric companies to give to the
community. The power that you get in the Chattanooga area comes from a variety
of different producers but some of it comes from the dam.
The dam tour was really a lot of fun, one of the best tours we did,
and we had so much fun getting to see the inner workings of the dam in our hard
hats and goggles. Thanks to Susan Malone who set up the tour for us and joined
us in learning about the Chickamauga dam.
After our tour was finished we
headed to Waconda Bay to try SUP (stand up paddle boarding). We went to One
Joyful Yoga and started up the bay into the main channel. One Joyful Yoga is a
wonderful yoga and paddle boarding retreat run by Jayne, our instructor and
guide in the bay.
We paddled out to Old Harrison. It is the original town of
Harrison that was flooded in the early 1900’s when the Chickamauga dam was
built. There are still remnants of it under the surface of the water including
two staircases and foundations of a couple buildings. We stood on the stairs
and saw the foundations still under the water.
This old town is at the base of
Harrison Bay State Park. The whole area was covered in a grassy plant called
parrot feather. This plant is native to freshwater streams and lakes. It
spreads like crazy. It has taken over the bay area and maybe the name for the
marina.
Overall today was a great day and
we all learned so much.
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