Normandy water reading uncertain

The water level continues to drop at Normandy Reservior and a gauge used by TVA reported Monday that the flow of water from the dam had been halted, but a spokesman for the federal utility stated that wasn't the case. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge]

That's a good question, after figures supplied by the Tennessee Valley Authority's web site stated Monday morning that the flow from the reservoir had stopped for about five hours early Monday.

But TVA says that web site figure was inaccurate. Instead, the flow was at 114 cubic feet per second (cfs), a TVA spokesman told the T-G Monday morning.

He stated he did not know why the web site had been reporting those numbers, but added that the gauge at Normandy was having problems.

But moments after the T-G spoke to TVA about the status of the flow, the web site -- which displays hourly data from the dam -- was changed and showed that the flow was at 78 cfs. The elevation was shown as 852.22 feet.

On Tuesday morning, the flow rate was reported at 52 cfs with an elevation of 852.20 feet. Also, previous data for Monday had been changed to show the same flow of 52 cfs for the entire day instead of the 78 cfs displayed on TVA's website 24 hours before.

This isn't the first time problems have been reported with Normandy's measuring devices.

In November, a broken gauge reported for weeks that Normandy Lake was actually two feet higher than its actual elevation. A spokesman said at the time that TVA was in the process of repairing the faulty gauge and that workers would take manual readings.

The web site said the last time manual readings were taken was on Jan. 17 at 8:30 a.m.

The current elevation puts the region closer to mandatory Stage 2 water restrictions which would go into effect when the reservoir reaches 850 feet. The area is currently under voluntary restrictions, with customers asked to reduce domestic and essential use by 10 percent and non-essential use by 15 percent.

Mandatory restrictions would include limiting the watering of lawns, flowers, trees and gardens to assigned days of the week and only from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. Addresses ending with an even number would water on Wednesday, Friday or Sunday and addresses ending in an odd number would only be able to water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The watering of fairways on any golf course or athletic field would be restricted to the hours of midnight to 5 a.m. and normal scheduled fire hydrant testing would be restricted to 50 percent of the schedule.

Activities that would be banned would include washing sidewalks, driveways, parking areas, tennis courts, patios or any other hard surfaces by commercial, industrial or residential customers except for sanitary or safety purposes.

Also prohibited would be the filling or refilling of swimming pools, non-commercial washing of privately owned vehicles, trailers or boats, the use of water for dust control, construction compacting or fire fighter training.

If Normandy reaches a level of 840 feet, the storage will be at 25 percent and DRUC will have problems supplying water to Coffee County residents. Any remaining storage capacity will be unusable for DRUC at that point, officials said.

Under these conditions, Stage 3 / Extreme Shortage restrictions would go into effect. Commercial nurseries and vegetable gardens would be restricted to the absolute minimum water usage to keep plants alive.

Golf course tees and greens could only be watered on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from midnight to 5 a.m. and ball fields only watered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during the same time period. Water that is served for drinking purposes at restaurants or other public or non-public eating establishments would be restricted to be served only if requested by the customer.

Prohibited activities would include the watering of residential trees, shrubs, lawns or flower gardens, the watering of golf course fairways and all non-state-mandated line flushing by utilities and fire departments.

Water customers who failed to comply with the mandatory restrictions would be faced with warnings or even termination of service with reconnection fees applied.