Nottely Dam is a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

and flood storage dam on the Nottely River in Union County, in the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The dam is owned and operated 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 ...

, which built the dam in the early 1940s as a

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

structure and to help regulate flow at nearby

Hiwassee Dam Hiwassee Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Cherokee County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is one of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s ...

.Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Hiwassee Valley Projects Volume 2: The Apalachia, Ocoee No. 3, Nottely, and Chatuge Projects'', Technical Report No. 5 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1948), pp. 1-8, 15-19, 50-53, 210, 495. The dam impounds the

Lake Nottely Lake Nottely (also called Nottely Reservoir) is one of many reservoirs of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is located entirely in Union County, Georgia in the United States and within the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests. Formed in 1942 by ...

of .Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Nickajack Project: A Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, Initial Operations, and Costs'', Technical Report No. 16 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1972), pp. 10-11. While the dam was built primarily for flood storage, a generator was installed at Nottely in the 1950s, giving it a small hydroelectric output.Tennessee Valley Authority
Nottely Reservoir
Retrieved: 27 January 2009. Nottely Dam was named for the Nottely River. The river itself was named after the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

village of Naduhli (), which was once situated along its banks. The village name is described variously as coming from the

for "daring horseman" or from the

Muscogee language The Muscogee language (also Muskogee , ), previously referred to by its exonym, Creek, is spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida. Muscogee was historically spoken by various constitue ...

via Cherokee.

Location

The Nottely River, which rises near the Union- Lumpkin county line, flows northward across Union County before crossing into

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

en route to its mouth along the

Hiwassee River The Hiwassee River is a river in the states of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. It originates from a spring on the north slope of Rocky Mountain (Georgia), Rocky Mountain in Towns County, Georgia, Towns County in n ...

. Nottely Dam is located upstream from the Nottely's mouth, just south of the Georgia-North Carolina state line. Nottely Lake stretches southward for along the Nottely to

Blairsville, Georgia Blairsville is a city in and the county seat of Union County, Georgia, Union County, on the northern border of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. It was founded near the Nottely River, which was dammed in 1942 as part of the Tennessee ...

. Both the dam and reservoir are surrounded by the

Chattahoochee National Forest The Chattahoochee River () is a river in the Southeastern United States. It forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida and Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a rela ...

Capacity

Nottely Dam is an earth-and-rock dam high and long. The dam's spillway is a concrete overflow "ski-jump" type situated adjacent to the dam and has a maximum discharge of . The dam utilizes a concrete

intake tower An intake tower or outlet tower is a vertical tubular structure with one or more openings used for capturing water from reservoirs and conveying it further to a hydroelectric or water-treatment plant. Unlike spillways, intake towers are intended ...

(connected via footbridge to the mainland), where water is diverted into a tunnel and carried downstream. The lone generator at Nottely has a generating capacity of 15,000 kilowatts. Nottely Lake has a flood storage capacity of , of water surface, and of shoreline.

Background and construction

Before the completion of Nottely Dam, the upper Nottely River was a rugged gorge with several excellent potential sites for a hydroelectric dam. Several private entities—most notably the Southern States Power Company and Union Power Company—had bought up land along the river for future dam projects, but nothing ever materialized. After its creation in 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority conducted an extensive survey of the Hiwassee watershed—which had been determined to be a major contributor to flooding in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

—and in 1940 completed Hiwassee Dam (a few miles downstream from the mouth of the Nottely). The outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in Europe in 1941 brought an emergency demand for electricity, which was needed to power

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

production operations in East Tennessee. Nottely Dam (identified as the "Thompson Canyon site" in early reports), along with several other dam projects in the area, was authorized July 16, 1941. Work on the dam began the following day. Nottely-dam-tva1

The construction of Nottely Dam required the purchase of of land (most of it from Southern States Power and Union Power), of which had to be cleared. 91 families and of roads had to be relocated. The dam was initially built solely for flood storage, but was designed so that a generator could easily be added should the need for one arise. The dam was formed by building a rock and stone "crib" and lining the middle with earthen fill. The dam was built as quickly as possible in hopes of allowing its reservoir ample time to fill during the rainy winter months. The speed of its construction was aided by the use of rock-and-fill rather than concrete (the spillway was the only major section that required concrete) and the dam's relatively simple design, which was also employed at nearby

Chatuge Dam Chatuge Dam is a flood control and hydroelectric dam on the Hiwassee River in Clay County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The dam is the uppermost of three dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built ...

. Since Nottely's reservoir would fill slowly and create

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

-breeding environments, various precautions were taken to prevent

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

outbreaks. Nottely Dam was completed and its gates closed January 24, 1942. The project's final cost was just over $8 million. Throughout its early years, Nottely Dam was operated in conjunction with Hiwassee Dam and Chatuge Dam to allow maximum hydroelectric production at Hiwassee Dam. Nottely was outfitted with its own generator in the 1950s. In 1985, TVA raised Nottely Dam by 15 feet to accommodate higher rainfall.

References

External links

Nottely Reservoir
— official TVA site * Nottely Dam. — South View TVA Rd. {{Tennessee Valley Authority Facilities Dams on the Hiwassee River Tennessee Valley Authority dams Dams in Georgia (U.S. state) Buildings and structures in Union County, Georgia Dams completed in 1942 1942 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)