Tims Ford Operating Guide

	2013 Observed Midnight Elevations
	2012 Observed Midnight Elevations
	Flood Guide
	Guide Curve
	Minimum Recreation Level

Observed midnight elevation

Observed midnight elevations are shown for two years: last year and the current year to date. These are the actual elevations of the reservoir immediately upstream of the dam, measured at midnight of each day. The previous night’s elevation is added to the graph by 6 a.m. the next morning.

Flood guide

The flood guide line is a seasonal elevation guide that shows the amount of storage allocated in a reservoir for flood damage reduction. The operating objective is to keep the reservoir level at the dam at or below this line to be ready for flood events.

The reservoir level may rise above the flood guide as a result of large inflows, but the level is lowered to the flood guide line as soon as it can be done without increasing downstream flood damage.

From June 1 through Labor Day, elevations are maintained as close as possible to this line to support recreation. During this time, elevations fall below this line only when rainfall and runoff are insufficient to meet system flow requirements.

Guide curve

The line depicts the elevation immediately upstream of the dam which TVA targets throughout the year.

Minimum recreation level

The minimum recreation level is the elevation that must be maintained on Tims Ford Reservoir to benefit recreation from May 15 to October 15. When the reservoir level reaches or falls below this minimum level, TVA releases only enough water to protect downstream water quality. The only exception to this rule is in the event of a power system emergency. The operating guide for Tims Ford specifies a minimum recreation level because part of the original authorization for Tims Ford was recreation.

Caution

If you compare the operating guides for different reservoirs, please note that the scale for the vertical “Elevation” axis varies. To keep the size of the charts consistent, a larger scale is used for reservoirs that fluctuate significantly; a smaller scale is used for reservoirs that typically fluctuate only a few feet.

What is an operating guide?

TVA uses operating guides for each reservoir to make decisions about moving water through its dams. These guides are based on many decades of operating experience. They are built around the idea of allowing seasonal variations in the use of flood storage space.

Operating guides take into consideration all the features that influence a reservoir’s ability to store and release water—the size and shape of the surrounding watershed, the reservoir’s surface area, and the average rainfall and runoff—as well as historical demands for water use and flood storage space at different times of the year.