Watts Bar Dam
| Watts Bar Dam | |
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Watts Bar Dam
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 Location of Watts Bar Dam in Tennessee
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| Official name | Watts Bar Dam |
| Location | Meigs County and Rhea County, Tennessee, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°37′16.69″N 84°46′53.75″W / 35.6213028°N 84.7815972°WCoordinates: 35°37′16.69″N 84°46′53.75″W / 35.6213028°N 84.7815972°W |
| Construction began | July 1, 1939 |
| Opening date | January 1, 1942 |
| Operator(s) | Tennessee Valley Authority |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Tennessee River |
| Height | 112 ft (34 m) |
| Length | 2,960 ft (900 m) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Watts Bar Lake |
| Total capacity | 1,175,000 acre·ft (1,449,000 dam3) |
| Catchment area | 17,310 sq mi (44,800 km2) |
| Power station | |
| Commission date | 1941-1944 |
| Turbines | 5 x 38 MW Kaplan-type |
| Installed capacity | 190 MW |
Watts Bar Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Meigs and Rhea counties in Tennessee, United States. The dam is one of nine dams on the main Tennessee River channel operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the early 1940s to provide flood control and electricity and to help create a continuous navigable channel along the entire length of the river. The dam is the technical boundary between the 39,090-acre (15,820 ha) Watts Bar Lake— which it impounds— and Chickamauga Lake, which stretches from the dam's tailwaters southward to Chattanooga.
Watts Bar Dam is named for Watt Island, a sandbar located at the dam site prior to the dam's construction.
Watts Bar Dam is located approximately 530 miles (850 km) upstream from the mouth of the Tennessee River, roughly halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Just north of the dam, the Tennessee absorbs the Piney River, which flows down from the Cumberland Plateau to the west. The nearest towns of note are Spring City (a few miles to the northwest) and Decatur (a few miles to the south). Tennessee State Route 68 crosses Watts Bar Dam, connecting the area with Interstate 75 to the east and U.S. Route 27 to the west.
Watts Bar Lake extends 72.4 miles (116.5 km) northeast from the dam to Fort Loudoun Dam, and includes parts of Meigs, Rhea, Roane, and Loudon counties. In addition to its main Tennessee River channel, Watts Bar Lake is navigable across the lower 23 miles (37 km) of the Clinch River (up to Melton Hill Dam) and the lower 12 miles (19 km) of the Emory River. The cities of Kingston, Spring City, Harriman, Loudon, Rockwood, and Lenoir City all have waterfronts on Watts Bar Lake.
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