Sept. 28, 2009

Heavy rains pose no problems for Weiss powerhouse

By Scott Wright

LEESBURG — Several consecutive days of heavy rainfall across the Coosa River basin earlier this month filled potholes and low-lying areas, caused streams to creep over their banks and turn muddy, and eventually littered Weiss Lake with a summer's worth of logs and other debris.

Given the disruption much of the rest of the Southeast was subjected to, it might seem logical that the people who run Weiss Dam were panicked, too, and searching frantically for somewhere to put all that water.
Before the days of electronic rain gauges and computerized systems, that might have been the case. But last week, if anything, Alabama Power was quite happy to have to deal with the problem.

“We had all five gates open about one-and-a-half feet from 6:30 a.m. until about midnight last night,” Ted Pyron, the superintendent of Weiss Dam, told The Post on Wednesday. “And we've been generating with all three units, wide open, and we'll continue to do that for several more days.”
Pyron said the extra water coming down the Coosa River has allowed Alabama Power to generate all the electricity it can sell, and for next to nothing.
“What we do is back down power generation at the steam plants and some of our other facilities,” he said. “Really, this is a very economical way to generate electricity. The rain is really helping us.”

Pyron said there has been an average of 6.7 inches of rainfall in the Coosa River basin since mid-September, all of which eventually drains into Weiss.

“Ninety percent of the rain we've had this month has fallen since September 15, with the highest concentration occurring over the three-day period from September 19-21,” he said. “Still, most of the streams that feed into Weiss are already coming down, so there is no alarm.”

Pyron said that Weiss, which reaches a summer pool level of 564 feet above sea level, isn't very far off its prescribed level for this time of year despite all the wet weather.
“We are starting our draw-down period that we do each fall, and we should be at 563.04,” Pyron said Wednesday. “Today's elevation is 563.90 ft. I took that reading this morning, so the water is already coming down.”
Pyron said there was never any real concern that even such a significant amount of rain as the area recently saw would cause any problems for Weiss or the other dams on the Coosa.

“Our water is fed to us from Lake Allatoona, and they are trying to hold onto as much water as possible before they begin controlled releases,” Pyron said. “Now they're full so they're passing water down to us and we're managing it.”
Pyron said the job of regulating the flow of all that water is the purview of a group of engineers at Alabama Power's main office in Birmingham.

“We have an entire department that watches all of the electronic gauges we have in place, and when the water reaches a certain height they are able to draw it down,” he said. “It's not a deal where we walk out and look at the water, it's a scientific calculation.”
Pyron said he has fielded several calls from the public over the last few days, asking his advice about moving campers, trailers or other temporary structures out of the easement based on how he thinks the water level might change.

“From a legal standpoint, I cannot advise someone what to do with their own property,” he said. “What I can tell them is what we are doing to keep the water levels where they should be, and then we let them decide what they want to do, based on that information.”