178 MULTIPLE PURPOSE RIVER DEVELOPMENT 



to elevation 460 by the first of April. The drawdown from eleva- 

 tion 460 to 455 would begin in September of each year and would 

 be completed by the beginning of the flood season at the start of 

 the following year.^^ The proposal to modify the existing Lay Dam 

 would increase the height some fourteen feet and provide for two 

 additional generating units. At normal power pool, the reservoir 

 would hcve an area of 12,000 acres and extend nearly 47 miles 

 upstream to Kelly Creek Dam, thereby eliminating the originally 

 contemplated Fort William Shoals site from consideration as a 

 reservoir possibility. 



The four proposed structures and reservoirs would develop the 

 reach of river between Rome, Georgia, and the first existing Ala- 

 bama Power Company dam — roughly the same reach of river 

 proposed for development by the Corps of Engineers' Leesburg, 

 Patlay, Howell Mill Shoals, and Fort William Shoals facilities. In 

 addition to the applicant's four projects in this reach of river, the 

 Wetumpka site is proposed for a reservoir covering 1,200 acres and 

 extending about seven and a half miles upstream to the existing 

 Jordan Dam. 



The Alabama Power Company's proposal is for multiple purpose 

 development, consisting ultimately of more than 400,000 kilowatts 

 of capacity, some 688,000 acre-feet of controlled surcharge storage 

 available for flood control in addition to 191,000 acre-feet of storage 

 in the power pool available seasonally for flood control. And there 

 is provision for installation of locks in the event navigation becomes 

 economically feasible on the Coosa River. 



It is significant that all of the structures proposed by the com- 

 pany are on the main stem and downstream from the only storage 

 project built by the federal government. Furthermore, the storage 

 provided by the power pools in the Leesburg and Kelly Creek 

 reservoirs would increase generation at proposed or existing instal- 

 lations owned and operated by the same company. Moreover, the 

 possibility of complete co-ordination of water releases is enhanced 

 by the Alabama Power Company's ownership of the Thurlow, 

 Yates, and Martin dams on the Coosa's sister tributary, the Talla- 

 poosa (see Figure 16), and the concurrent application to develop 



^'^ Alabama Power Company, Application to the Federal Power Commission 

 for a License for the Development of the Coosa River, Project No. 2146, Exhibit 

 H, Figure 2. 



