Hurricane Helene’s torrential rains in September 2024 caused the Pigeon River to surge to record flow that ripped sections of Interstate 40 to shreds, but the nearby Walters Dam, and powerhouse 12 miles below it, withstood the devastating storm with little damage.
“The dam was in no way compromised. It functioned perfectly, just like it should. We opened it up to let water out,” Alan Stuart Jr., a senior project manager for Duke Energy, told a Haywood County audience last week during a presentation about the hydropower plant on the Pigeon River.
“That’s what the gates on the dam are for, emergency situations. And the dam never overtopped,” Stuart said. “We did some pre-planning with the understanding that we were going to get significant water.”
On the morning after Helene, with communications limited in much of the region and lots of search and rescue operations under way, rumors began circulating that Walters Dam had collapsed. When asked about that rumor, Stuart said there’s a couple of reasons why it may have spread.
One, Waterville Lake and the 180-foot-high Walters Dam are mostly hidden from view. People could not see the dam from I-40, just the amount of water in the Pigeon River. Couple that with the unprecedented amount of water visible from below the dam, and people started speculating.
“I think it was the sheer amount of water that was coming down the river channel from the lake, but also from all the other tributaries. It was massive,” said Stuart.
The dam undergoes inspections every year, and Stuart said he’s confident that the management systems in place contributed to its ability to come through Helene unscathed.
This graphic explains in rough terms how power is generated from a hydroelectric dam. shutterstock.com graphic
The Walters Hydroelectric facility began commercial operation in 1929 and construction started in 1926, meaning its 100 years old. The powerhouse is located on the North Carolina-Tennessee border, and a six-mile tunnel from the lake provides water to the plant. It produces 104 megawatts of electricity, enough to power approximately 18,000 households.
Duke’s hydropower system provides about 7% of its total capacity. The plant is mostly used during peak consumption periods, according to Stuart. Power from Walters can be put into the power grid in about 10 minutes.
The requirements for Duke’s hydropower system differ from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s system in that it does not take part in flood control. However, in emergency situations like Helene the reservoir managers will draw down the lake to mitigate potential flooding.
Because of decades of chemical contamination in the Pigeon River from the now-closed paper mill in Canton, Waterville Lake can’t be drawn down below a certain level. It has a 30-foot limit on its fluctuation specifically because of those contaminants. According to Stuart, inspectors from federal environmental agencies have determined that over time new sediment from the river and its tributaries will provide a protective cap over those contaminants.
“One hundred percent, those chemicals are a factor in how we manage Waterville Lake’s levels,” Stuart said.
Every 40 years hydro plants must undergo a relicensing agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. During the process, stakeholders — including power company officials — come together over several years to determine what concessions Duke Energy must make for its continuing use of public waters.
The last relicensing for Walters in 1994 led to the creation of the Pigeon River Fund in 1996. Duke Energy contributes about $300,000 annually to the fund, which has given out grants totaling approximately $10 million to environmental and educational projects in the Pigeon River Watershed. The groups receiving the grants must be in Haywood, Henderson, Buncombe and Madison counties.
The agreement also called for Duke to make regular releases for whitewater rafting.
“Right now, we release on 75 days a year, between Memorial and Labor days,” said Stuart. “It’s estimated that those releases contribute about $6 million annually into the local economies through the rafting industry.”
Duke is already eyeing the 2034 relicensing and planning for what it will entail, a process that could include more access to Walters Lake and other recreational opportunities.
“During the FERC relicensing process anticipated to begin in 2029, Duke Energy, along relicensing stakeholders, will evaluate existing recreation opportunities/facilities at the Walters Project and determine what type of public recreation opportunities may need to be expanded upon,” Jennifer Bennett, Duke’s government and community relations manager, said in an email.
According to the presentation by Stuart last week, typical issues that are on the table during relicensing agreements for plants like Walters include: lake levels and flow releases (quantity, quality, recreation); public recreation facilities; shoreline management; land conservation; cultural resources; and environmental (fish/wildlife habitat, fish passage).
Also relevant to Walter’s relicensing is its location in public lands. The dam is in the Pisgah National Forest and near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Pigeon River flows into the Cherokee National Forest. That means representatives from those entities will have significant input into the relicensing agreement.
“It’s a long, complicated process from beginning to end, and so we do a lot of informal work beforehand because otherwise we would never get there,” said Stuart.