Fort Loudoun Reservoir

Ecological health rating

Fort Loudoun Reservoir rated poor in 2009 monitoring. Conditions were similar to most previous years. Low ratings for two indicators—chlorophyll and bottom life—consistently reduce the reservoir’s overall health score. In addition, dissolved oxygen has rated poor in some years. One indicator—sediment quality—improved in recent years (2007 and 2009).

TVA monitors three locations on Fort Loudoun Reservoir—the deep, still water near the dam, called the forebay; the middle part of the reservoir; and the riverlike area at the extreme upper end of a reservoir, called the inflow. Fort Loudoun Reservoir was monitored annually from 1994 through 2007. In 2008, TVA began monitoring Fort Loudoun every other year. (Most TVA reservoirs are monitored every other year.)

Fort Loudoun Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2009

Click chart for raw data.

The table below shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Fort Loudoun in 2009. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.

Monitoring locations	Dissolved oxygen	Chlorophyll	Fish	Bottom life	Sediment
Ecological Health Indicators at Fort Loudoun Reservoir, 2009
Forebay	Poor	Poor	Good	Poor	Good
Mid-reservoir	Good	Poor	Fair	Fair	Good
Inflow			Fair	Poor
Dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen rated poor at the forebay and good at the mid-reservoir monitoring location. This indicator usually rates good at the mid-reservoir location, but ratings have varied between good and poor at the forebay, generally in response to reservoir flow conditions. During years with low flow such as in 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2007, dissolved oxygen rated poor at the forebay. In 2009, flows were near the long-term average and, although low dissolved conditions only developed in a small portion of the lower water column, a large portion of the bottom of the reservoir was exposed to low concentrations, resulting in a poor rating. TVA has installed aeration equipment to add oxygen to the deep water above Fort Loudoun Dam and to improve conditions immediately downstream. Learn more about these improvements. Chlorophyll Average summer chlorophyll concentrations were high at both monitoring locations, resulting in poor ratings. High chlorophyll concentrations are a consistent issue on Fort Loudoun, rating poor at both sites in most previous years. Fish The fish assemblage rated good at the forebay and fair at the mid-reservoir and inflow monitoring locations. The variety of fish collected at all three locations was good, but catch rates were slightly lower than desired. Bottom life Similar to previous years, bottom life rated poor at the forebay and inflow monitoring locations and fair at the mid-reservoir location. Relatively few organisms are usually collected from the forebay and inflow locations, and those collected are primarily species capable of tolerating poor conditions. Bottom life at the mid-reservoir location typically rates fair due to greater diversity, which includes a better representation of intolerant species such as mayflies. Sediment Sediment quality rated good at both the forebay and mid-reservoir monitoring locations. Sediment quality typically rates fair at both locations due to chlordane, PCBs, and/or zinc exceeding suggested limits. See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.

Fish consumption advisories

Fort Loudoun Reservoir - TVA maintains a program to examine contaminants in fish fillets from TVA reservoirs and their major tributary streams on a rotational basis. The data collected from this program is distributed to the state officials who are responsible for placing or removing fish tissue consumption advisories on those bodies of water. For information on advisories currently in effect for Fort Loudoun Reservoir, visit the Water Quality Division of Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation’s web page. http://www.tn.gov/environment/water.shtml.