Reservoirs
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Major reservoirs in North Carolina
Surface reservoirs have historically been considered the main form of water storage in the southeast. Whether this continues to be the main storage option in the future is uncertain, given concerns about evaporation and environmental consequences of flooding land.
A note on the scale of N.C. reservoirs compared to large western United States reservoirs: even the largest reservoirs in North Carolina are much smaller than the major reservoirs in the west, which are designed to hold multiple years' worth of flow. For example, Kerr Lake, the largest lake in Virginia and second-largest in North Carolina, holds about 1.5 million acre feet at normal pool elevation. Lake Powell, on the Colorado River, holds about 23.5 million acre feet when full. Lake Mead, also on the Colorado, holds about 25 million acre feet. The two reservoirs can be operated somewhat in tandem, allowing storage of over 40 million acre feet. This table will give a sense of the amount of water storage operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the Great Plains.
Operated by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Here is a table summarizing the USACE water supply allocations from NC reservoirs as of February 2008. USACE views the allowable uses of its reservoirs and its mandates to operate them through this analysis of its Congressionally-authorized reservoir purposes.
Falls Lake
This is a representation of the storage map for Falls Reservoir, presented by Dr. David Moreau in analyzing 2007-2008 drought response.
Purposes: For flood control, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife
enhancement, and augmentation of low flows for purposes of
pollution abatement and water-quality control in the Neuse
River Basin.
Summary: ACE website
Jordan Lake (B. Everett Jordan Project)
Here is a schematic of how USACE typically divides up the storage in its multi-purpose reservoirs in North Carolina.
Purposes:flood control, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife
Operating Purposes Authorized Purposes Authorizing Laws Recreation Recreation PL 88-253 Water Supply Water Supply PL 88-253 Flood Control Flood Control PL 88-253 Fish/Wildlife Fish/Wildlife PL 88-253 Water Quality Water Quality PL 88-253
Summary: ACE website
Kerr Lake (John H. Kerr project)
Purposes: flood control, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife
Operating Purposes Authorized Purposes Authorizing Laws Recreation Recreation PL 78-534 Low Flow Augmentation PL 78-534 Water Supply Water Supply PL 85-500 Flood Control Flood Control PL 78-534 Hydroelectric Power Hydroelectric Power PL 78-534 Fish/Wildlife Fish/Wildlife PL 85-624 Note: John H. Kerr is not regulated for low flow augmentation since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission assigned that requirement to the two Virginia Power Company projects located downstream. These projects, Gaston and Roanoke Rapids, are operating under project licence no. 2009.
Kerr Reservoir’s total storage capacity is about 1.5 million acre-feet at 300 feet MSL. The combined Dominion Power-operated projects downstream (Lake Gaston and Roanoke Rapids reservoirs) can store about 0.5 million acre-feet.
There is a 216 study underway with the Corps and the States of N.C. and Virginia to reconsider operations at Kerr Lake.
Summary: ACE website
W. Kerr Scott
Purposes: flood control, water supply, recreation, and fish and wildlife
Storage: At the normal pool, there is about 41,000 acre-feet of water stored behind W. Kerr Scott Dam.
Summary: ACE website
Regulated by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Operated by Tennessee Valley Authority
Medium-sized reservoirs
Small reservoirs (farm ponds, retention basins, cisterns)
Possibilities for new reservoirs
The most recent statewide analysis of reservoir capacity in North Carolina was published in 1992.[1] It found that expansion of reservoir capacity for purposes other than flood control (hydroelectric power, public water supply, recreation, other conservation) slowed markedly after 1965.
Notes
- ↑ David H. Moreau, Declining Rates of Expansion of Reservoir Capacity in North Carolina (Raleigh: Water Resources Research Institute, Dec. 1992).
