Remember the scene in the original National Lampoon’s Vacation when the Griswolds finally finish their long journey to Walley World and find the theme park is closed?
If you’re headed for a whitewater rafting trip on the Ocoee River and you don’t plan ahead, you might be similarly frustrated.
The Ocoee River doesn’t close, but the rafting sections do empty out regularly. In fact, during about two-thirds of each year, those sections are dry. That means rafting companies can operate only on certain days of the week during the warmer months, and rafting shuts down altogether in the winter. Schedules of when the riverbeds will fill up are available online.
“The water turns on at a specific time and turns off at a very specific time every day,” says Rob Paden, who owns Outdoor Adventure Rafting. “So when you’re up there, and it releases, it looks like a giant wave.”
The water turns on and off because the Tennessee Valley Authority controls it, which is causing a conflict between the rafters and TVA.
TVA uses the river to generate hydroelectric power, and when they’re using it for that purpose, they have to divert the water away from the whitewater rafting areas, over to theOcoee No.2 and Ocoee No. 3powerhouses.
It’s an either/or situation—either TVA can divert the water to the whitewater recreation sections of the river, or TVA can divert it to the hydroelectric powerhouses. The water can’t be used by TVA and rafting companies simultaneously.
Right now, contracts exist between TVA and 24 Ocoee outfitting companies, ensuring that the companies get to use the water often enough to stay in business. In turn, the companies compensate TVA financially for the cost of lost power.
But the contracts expire at the end of 2018, and the rafting companies worry the fees will increase. They say, in the future, TVA will ask for more money than they can afford, although TVA says nothing is final yet. It’s an uncertain situation for the rafters, making it difficult for them to plan ahead.
In this feature news story, we hear about the conflict between TVA and the rafting companies; how TVA is responding; and who may ultimately resolve it.
We speak withTVAspokesman Chris Stanley; Outdoor Adventure Rafting owner Rob Paden; and Stacy Stone, Grassroots Campaign Coordinator for the Ocoee River Council.