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I'll ask a friend who works at TVA and try to get back to you all.  I
doubt the official TVA story, since the catchement area behind the
dam is only 1000 acres or so.  My bet is that the TVA story glosses
over a plain, ordinary screw up.


On Nov 15, 2010, at 12:39 AM, Frank Reed wrote:

> Fred Hebard, you wrote:
> "I live near Bristol, VA/TN. A dam was built on the Virginia side
> (just northwest of Exit 7 on I-81) but the lake never filled; I'm
> not sure why, have heard that the ground leaked (limestone soils/
> karst topography). Regardless, the Google map depicts the lake
> that's never been there!"
>
> Fred, I LOVE that one. The trails run right through the middle of
> the phantom reservoir. And apparently you can play soccer
> underwater. Here's the coordinates of the reservoir if anyone wants
> to visit: 36.6467,-82.1091.
>
> The TVA, which built the dam, states on their web site that the
> Beaver Creek Dam is "a flood detention dam with no permanent
> reservoir pool." It seems that it was designed only for emergency
> flood control. But somehow, decades ago, the USGS mapped it as a
> filled reservoir (Google gets their basic data in the US from the
> USGS). I wonder if the TVA ever let it fill up just to test its
> integrity... Probably more likely that boundary just represents the
> potential size if a flood ever requires closing the dam. By the
> way, I could find no references to geological or soil issues. The
> TVA counts it as an active flood-control structure, and it will
> probably work just fine if Bristol ever needs it.
>
> -FER
>
>
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