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Show owned plants of the Alabama and Georgia power companies as is now done with the energy from the Allatoona plant and the Tennessee Valley Author- ity plants. Segregation of the energy as to its source would be impracticable, and marketing it at vary- ing rates based on the individual production costs of the various plants from which it came would be intolerably complicated. All planning for hydroelectric power generation in the basin has been based on the assumption that the principle of the pooled account, or of a regional account, will be followed in plant operation and in marketing the output of the plants of the system. This procedure would provide the basis for uniform rates sufficiently high to cover all costs for the entire power system, including return of investment with interest. It would also make it possible to check the efficiency of operation of all projects interrelated hydraulically and electrically. Conclusions In planning the development of the water re- sources of the basin, the component units should be planned, evaluated, and constructed in their proper sequence as units in the basin-wide or larger regional system. The management of the power plants, including their schedules of operation and the marketing of the energy, should be administered on a basin-wide basis, and a pooled account should be set up for this purpose. B. Problems of Beneficial Use 1. Use of Storage Reservoirs The Problem Planning and operation of storage reservoirs to serve various beneficial water uses. The Situation In all river basins, the water requirements of cer- tain activities conflict to some extent with those of others. Reservoir storage space reserved for flood control cannot also be depended upon for power generation; reservoir water passed through locks for navigation cannot also be passed through the turbines of a power plant. Reservoir water re- tained at constant level for the benefit of fish and wildlife, recreation, or other purpose, becomes for the time being unavailable for hydroelectric power production. Adequate planning must apportion equitably the available water among the various needs so that the largest net benefits may be realized. In this basin, such conflicts of interest have not been serious. For example, the best use of the Alla- toona Reservoir for power would result if all possible stream flow were passed through the turbines dur- ing the hours of peak power demand and were cut off during off-peak hours. This, however, would seriously impair fish life for some distance below the dam and would damage the water supply and sewage dilution of Gartersville and perhaps other communities for some distance downstream. To meet these problems, a minimum release of 127 cubic feet a second from the reservoir is required at all times. To minimize power loss, a 2,000-kilo- watt generator was installed to use the minimum release when the 36,000-kilowatt generators were shut down. At Rome, Ga., below the Allatoona Reservoir, it is possible that maximum discharge during peak power production may reverse the flow of the lower Oostanaula River and temporarily endanger the city's water supply by carrying raw sewage up- stream to the water system intake. The ability of the Goosa River to handle such peak flows with- out causing backflow in the Oostanaula River is being checked in the field. At Montgomery, Ala., the Alabama River is ex- pected to afford sufficient water to dilute dis- charged wastes adequately. The Alabama Power Go. is required by Federal license to release suffi- cient water through its power dams on the Goosa and Tallapoosa Rivers to maintain a minimum flow of 6,000 cubic feet a second at Montgomery; how- ever, the company is not required to pass more than 5,000 cubic feet a second, nor more than the natural flow it receives at any given time to accomplish this. The construction of the proposed dams on the Alabama River near Montgomery will provide multiple-purpose reservoirs. To permit full use of the waters of these reservoirs, it will be necessary to provide at least secondary treatment for all wastes from the Montgomery area. Water drawn from the deeper parts of power pools may be lacking in dissolved oxygen. Such water, until it regains its oxygen, is of little value in the dilution of wastes and may itself be a burden on the stream. 551 |
