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Chickamauga Reservoir

Ecological health rating
Swimming advisories
Fish consumption advisories

Ecological health rating

The ecological health of Chickamauga Reservoir rated fair in 2007, compared to good in previous years. Three indicators (dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, and bottom life) either rated at the low end of their historic range or lower than in previous years. The lower ratings were largely due to low reservoir flows in 2007, which was the driest year in 118 years of record.

TVA monitors four locations on Chickamauga Reservoir—the deep, still water near the dam, called the forebay; the middle part of the reservoir; the Hiwassee River embayment; and the riverlike area at the extreme upper end of a reservoir, called the inflow—usually on a two-year cycle.

Chickamauga Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2007

Click chart for raw data.

The table below shows the ratings for individual ecological health indicators at Chickamauga in 2007. These ratings are briefly explained in the paragraphs that follow.

Monitoring locations	Dissolved oxygen	Chlorophyll	Fish	Bottom life	Sediment
Ecological Health Indicators at Chickamauga Reservoir, 2007
Forebay	Fair	Poor	Fair	Fair	Good
Mid-reservoir	Good	Poor	Fair	Fair	Good
Hiwassee River embayment	Good	Poor	Fair	Poor	Good
Inflow			Fair	Fair
Dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen rated good at the mid-reservoir and Hiwassee River embayment monitoring locations and fair at the forebay. Dissolved oxygen typically rates good at all locations, except during extremely dry, low flow years such as 2007, which can result in the development of low dissolved oxygen conditions near bottom. Chlorophyll Chlorophyll rated poor at all monitoring locations because of elevated chlorophyll concentrations. Similar to dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll typically rates good or at the high end of the fair range in Chickamauga Reservoir, except in extremely dry years when low flows through the reservoir allow more time for algae to grow. Fish The fish community rated at the high end of the fair range at all monitoring locations. The fish community typically rates good or at the high end of the fair range. Bottom life Bottom life rated fair at three monitoring locations and poor at the Hiwassee embayment location. Bottom life at the forebay and embayment monitoring locations rated lower than in previous years (at the low end of the fair range and poor, respectively) because overall abundance and diversity of animals were lower. Prior to 2007, ratings varied between good and fair at each location. Sediment Sediment quality rated good at all monitoring locations. No PCBs or pesticides were detected, and all metal concentrations were within the expected range. Elevated concentrations of PCBs and selected metals—generally zinc and copper—have been detected in sediment samples from the forebay and Hiwassee embayment monitoring locations in some previous years. See definitions of ecological health indicators and monitoring locations.

Swimming advisories

TVA has not issued any swimming advisories for Chickamauga Reservoir.

E. coli bacteria levels in samples collected in 2007 were within the state of Tennessee’s guidelines for water contact with the following exceptions.

Chickamauga Dam Beach: Exceeded the single sample maximum 1 or 10 sampling events
Harrison Bay State Park Informal Swim Site (Inside Main Park): Exceeded the single sample maximum 2 or 10 sampling events
Chester Frost Park Beach: Exceeded the single sample maximum 1 or 10 sampling events
Grasshopper Creek Boat Ramp (North): Exceeded the geometric mean (geometric mean of all 10 samples) and the single sample maximum 3 of 10 sampling events

The locations sampled in 2007 were:

Site Name	Location	County	State
Harrison Bay State Park Informal Swim Site (Roadside Area)	Tennessee River Mile 479.0L, Roadside Park	Hamilton	TN
Chickamauga Dam Beach	Tennessee River Mile 471.0L	Hamilton	TN
Savannah Bay Informal Recreation Area Boat Ramp	Tennessee River Mile 478.6L, Long Savannah Creek 1.6	Hamilton	TN
Harrison Bay State Park Informal Swim Site (Inside Main Park)	Tennessee River Mile 479.0L, Near Campground	Hamilton	TN
Chester Frost Park Beach	Tennessee River Mile 479.8R, Dallas Bay	Hamilton	TN
Harrison Bay Informal Recreation Area Swim Site	Tennessee River Mile 482.6L	Hamilton	TN
Skull Island Recreation Area Beach	Tennessee River Mile 485L	Hamilton	TN
Grasshopper Creek Boat Ramp (North)	Tennessee River Mile 494.0L	Hamilton	TN
Sale Creek Beach	Tennessee River Mile 495.0R	Hamilton	TN
Armstrong Ferry Beach	Tennessee River Mile 505L	Rhea	TN
Cottonport Campground Informal Swim Site	Tennessee River Mile 512.9L	Rhea	TN
Fraizer Park Swim Site	Tennessee River Mile 505.2R, Ratten Branch 1.5	Rhea	TN

Fish consumption advisories

There are no fish consumption advisories for Chickamauga Reservoir. TVA collected channel catfish and largemouth bass from the reservoir for tissue analysis in fall 2005. The results, which were similar to those of previous years, will be provided to state agencies in Tennessee. TVA will analyze fish from the reservoir again in autumn 2007.

Chickamauga Reservoir is a main-channel reservoir on the Tennessee River just north of Chattanooga.

More about Chickamauga

Sport fishing ratings

Spring sportfish survey results

General information

To see monitoring results for other TVA reservoirs, choose from the list below.

Environmental Stewardship

Chickamauga Reservoir

Ecological health rating

Chickamauga Reservoir Ecological Health Ratings, 1994-2007

Ecological Health Indicators at Chickamauga Reservoir, 2007

Monitoring locations

Dissolved oxygen

Chlorophyll

Fish

Bottom life

Sediment