A power generating station has been constructed at the base of Summersville Dam. Rumors had spread that the Upper Gauley would not be runnable once the project was finished. Not true! The Fall Gauley Season is mandated by an act of Congress and is unaffected by the dam's power project. We'll always have an Upper Gauley and it will always be one of the World's Top Ten whitewater adventures. What we don't have anymore is the dramatic put-in at the base of the dam; otherwise, nothing has changed.
Once the conversion was completed, one of the three major water discharge tubes diverted through the station’s turbines. Unfortunately, the turbines will be able to handle over 4000 cubic feet per second (cfs) and the one tunnel can able to handle this entire flow. That means at all raftable levels the entire Gauley River will be diverted through the plant. There will no longer be the dramatic water flows from the tunnels. The water will be back in the river bed about 200-300 feet downstream of the dam. For the time being that will be the only change in the river. We will continue to get the Fall release days as mandated by Congress plus the additional days that have been negotiated for in the "fish for water" trade. The US Army Corps of Engineers will continue to operate the dam as they have done since the dam was opened.. By Congressional mandate, the management plan for the Gauley River National Recreational Area will continue to place downstream recreation higher in priority than power generation. Other than the put-in being 100 yards downstream, the entire Gauley trip is unchanged…and that's good for all of us!
The only change in water flows that the power project has caused so far ended up being a boon for rafting. During the 1999 season the Corps agreed to completely drain the lake so that the power company could install flow instrumentation in the tunnel. This was a stroke of luck for rafters because 1999 was such a drought year and lowering the lake in such an extreme manner gave us an extra 33,000 acre feet of water. This extra water allowed us to have a normal season. Fortunately we got the water but the Corps never drained the lake that low.
Many rafters question the difference in flows each year and they sometimes attributed reductions in flow to the power project. As the preceding paragraph shows, the only change in flows caused by the project was for the better. Water flow reductions are due to lack of rain events or to help control flooding downstream. Water may also be reduced if the Meadow River (the major tributary which joins the Gauley at the top of Lost Paddle Rapids) is high. We refer to this as a "reverse pulse". The Corps will open the discharge to a very high level during the night and then reduce the daytime flow to such a level that the combined flow of the Gauley and Meadow is raftable. During these rare times the first few miles will be low but the river after the Meadow will be at its optimum commercially raftable level.
Some rafters have come to expect about 2800 cfs as a "normal" level. We have gotten that level occasionally but the "true normal" release is about 2450 cfs. The extra 350 cfs is a bonus that the Corps gives us if they have plenty of water in the lake. During dry years the corps may reduce the discharge to 1900 cfs. Fortunately our fleet of 14-foot boats handles all these levels exceptionally well. Discharges will vary from week to week and from day to day during the weekend
Now the bad news. It is possible that, several years from now, the power company may convince the Corps to pulse the water during the rest of the year in order to increase power production. This may affect the Summer Gauley. A pulse is necessary in the Summer for power generation because a minimum flow must be provided for the turbines to turn. If the pulse is in the morning, the rafting companies will support the pulse; but in general, the pulse for a peak power hydro project is usually in the afternoon when people are coming home from work and turning on air conditioners. An afternoon pulse will be unusable for rafting on both the Upper and Lower Gauley. The power company has said it doesn’t make any difference to them when a pulse would occur because the major power companies on the grid are required to pay the same amount no matter when the power is generated. Our reading of the fine print has not revealed anything prohibiting a bonus if the power is generated in the afternoon. The Corps and the power company both deny any plans to pulse the water and both say they are restricted to "run of the river" or natural flow, but there are too many dollars at stake for us to believe that the pulse will never happen. So it is the Summer flow, not the Fall season, that may change due to the project.
