TVA installs new signs at Kentucky Dam emphasizing waterway hazards

As warmer weather settles into the region, folks are likely to visit area waterways for some fishing, boating and swimming. To improve safety and awareness near Kentucky Dam, the Tennessee Valley Authority recently installed new signage and provided some dam safety information.

The TVA operates nearly 50 dams across its service region, and the majority produce hydropower, including Kentucky Dam in Grand Rivers, which accounts for around 10% of its power generation. While generating hydropower, Harrison Strickland, the TVA’s program manager for public safety around dams, says their dams play a key role in regulating water levels and floodwater mitigation.

The Public Safety Around Dams Program was recently created, and Strickland says it focuses on ensuring that the TVA has necessary measures in place to inform citizens of potential hazards at dams.

To improve that effort, the caution signs surrounding Kentucky Dam were replaced to more effectively communicate the dangers in the upstream and downstream areas. Multiple large bright red signs have been erected to read “DANGER, Restricted Zone When Lights Flash, Keep Out” in large text. Strickland says some of their dams still had safety signs that were installed in the 1950s that have become less effective, leading to the start of the sign replacement project.

At the dam, water is spilled during heavy rain or flooding events, and hydropower is generated, which causes dangers to those in the water when either is actively happening. Since 1998, Strickland says there have been over 40 public safety-related deaths that have occurred at TVA dams, including four at Kentucky Dam.

Strickland says those fatalities occurred due to people upstream being caught in the current and taken through the spillway, people downstream being pulled toward the open spillway gates and people being near the activated turbines.

Strickland says their goal is to ensure dam-related fatalities do not rise, and new signs will hopefully support that effort.

Along with the signs, Strickland says boaters near the dam are alerted before hydropower generation starts or the spill gates open. At the top of the powerhouse, a siren and strobe lights alert boaters when the hydropower turbines are set to turn on in two minutes. Then, at the top of the spill gates, a sign activates, letting boaters know the gates will open soon, and they will also be notified over a megaphone system to vacate the area.

Strickland also shared that dam and water safety starts before even stepping foot into the water. He says people who are familiar with the area might underestimate the potential danger, and there are also some people that will overestimate the endurance of their watercraft, which don’t stand a chance against spillway currents.

Before hitting the waterways, Strickland encourages folks to make sure their boat equipment is working well, bring life jackets for everyone, and have a friend or family member on land who knows their whereabouts and when they plan to arrive back on land.

To further raise awareness of the dam’s safety hazards, Strickland says they have another project to add lights to the signs and update the dam’s strobe lights. More information about dam safety is available at tva.com/damsafety.

Harrison Strickland