Wave of trash and driftwood floating down the river today

[Creedmoor]

I took these photos and video from the river walk near the boat house.

I guess they flushed all of it through the dam somehow.

I would have really hated to have been caught downstream and had to go through all of that to get back to the boat ramp.

The photos and video don't really do it justice, there was a huge amount of stuff in the river and lot of it was very big.

Video

https://youtu.be/YmTjIjpvsH0

 

[SpurHunter]

So sad

 

[finbully]

Send that to the Chamber of Commerce!

 

[ATurner103]

That's no good

 

[FirstLight]

trash from above the dam came through gates. Ive fished that river many many times and never seen anything like that. thats crazy. on TVA's website you can see where they temporarily shut the gates mid morning. I guess for that reason?

 

[Aries 181]

They wanted it gone before Sunday. We can't have a lowly ironman tourist poked in the eye by a piece of trash now can we.

Bill

 

[fishunt_lg]

Wow that's crazy! I am one of those "ironman" who will be racing on sunday. I am amazed at the many bad posts on here about the race. 4,000 participants and their family is a lot of $$$ being spent at local establishments.

 

[Creedmoor]

FirstLight - 5/16/2019 1:35 PM

trash from above the dam came through gates. Ive fished that river many many times and never seen anything like that. thats crazy. on TVA's website you can see where they temporarily shut the gates mid morning. I guess for that reason?

When I saw all that in the water I thought that they must have opened the gates all the way and let it all go through. I drove to the dam and all the gates were just partially open just like they have been for a couple days. I saw where the flow dropped considerably at about the time it must have happened. The only thing I can come up with is that they closed the gates so all the trash up there could be herded into the lock and then flushed down the river.

I could be totally wrong about that though. It seems in the past they would push all that stuff to the bank on the north side of the dam and scoop it all up and haul it off.

 

[Creedmoor]

fishunt_lg - 5/16/2019 2:19 PM

Wow that's crazy! I am one of those "ironman" who will be racing on sunday. I am amazed at the many bad posts on here about the race. 4,000 participants and their family is a lot of $$$ being spent at local establishments.

I personally don’t have any problem with the Iron Man and agree that it brings a lot of people and money to our area. I wish I was motivated enough and in good enough shape to participate. Good luck to you on Sunday.

 

[Javelin94]

Saw a lot of garbage driving around the bend earlier so this would explain it.

 

[Crankinken]

That’s no good and certainly hazardous for anyone on the river. Please report if seen to Chamber of Commerce, TWRA, or TVA.

 

[heath423]

The dams is constructed with a trash gate. The trash gate is typically a little narrower that the spillway gates and would be the 1st gate beyond the powerhouse. They have to do that flush periodically. Look up Kentucky dam and all the trash that they get.

 

[Creedmoor]

heath423 - 5/16/2019 3:11 PM

The dams is constructed with a trash gate. The trash gate is typically a little narrower that the spillway gates and would be the 1st gate beyond the powerhouse. They have to do that flush periodically. Look up Kentucky dam and all the trash that they get.

That would make sense. I have always wondered why I have never seen that particular gate open.

 

[fishunt_lg]

Creedmoor - 5/16/2019 1:30 PM

fishunt_lg - 5/16/2019 2:19 PM

Wow that's crazy! I am one of those "ironman" who will be racing on sunday. I am amazed at the many bad posts on here about the race. 4,000 participants and their family is a lot of $$$ being spent at local establishments.

I personally don’t have any problem with the Iron Man and agree that it brings a lot of people and money to our area. I wish I was motivated enough and in good enough shape to participate. Good luck to you on Sunday.

Thanks, I actually posted it on the Ironman site so it'll probably get a few views. And I know this post wasn't directed towards that but it was the second time I had seen something negative towards it.

 

[Tsuga]

I was out on Watts Bar this morning. There was no appreciable trash but there was a lot of wood, including two tree trunks roughly fifteen feet long.

 

[derek81]

fishunt_lg - 5/16/2019 1:19 PM

Wow that's crazy! I am one of those "ironman" who will be racing on sunday. I am amazed at the many bad posts on here about the race. 4,000 participants and their family is a lot of $$$ being spent at local establishments.

Some people have a problem with everything.

 

[kingcab]

Agree....so sad.

 

[finbully]

heath423 - 5/16/2019 2:11 PM

The dams is constructed with a trash gate. The trash gate is typically a little narrower that the spillway gates and would be the 1st gate beyond the powerhouse. They have to do that flush periodically. Look up Kentucky dam and all the trash that they get.

They are supposed to clean out the trash racks, not send it down the river...

 

[churly]

Yeah, thats terribly embarrassing that we do this to our river. Looks like something in China...

 

[FirstLight]

churly - 5/17/2019 9:11 AM

Yeah, thats terribly embarrassing that we do this to our river. Looks like something in China...

Exactly.