GENERAL INFO
Kentucky Dam is located at river mile 22.4 and is the largest of the multi-purpose projects of the Tennessee River System. It is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. The Kentucky Dam powerhouse houses five generating units with a total capacity of 160,000 kilowatts of power and utilizes the waters from the lake for generating that power.
The current navigation lock on Kentucky Dam is located on the east bank, with the lock chamber being 110 feet by 600 feet large, having a maximum lift capability of 75 feet. The approximate time to get through the lock is 40 minutes. Highway 62 and the Illinois Centrail Railroad both stretch across the top of the dam.
Kentucky Lake is the largest TVA reservoir with more than 4,000,000 acre feet of flood storage capacity. The lake is 184.3 miles long and holds 2,839,000 acre feet of water at normal maximum pool, with a capability of holding 6,129,000 acre feet. There are 2,380 miles of shoreline on Kentucky Lake, 355 miles of which are island shoreline. The surface area of the lake at normal full pool is 160,300 square acres. At maximum full pool the surface area could raise to 261,000 square acres with minimum pool surface area covering 130,000 square acres. Minimum surface area in advance of floods can be lowered to 83,500 square acres.
Located in Kentucky and Tennessee, Kentucky Lake is surrounded by 16 counties. These include the Tennessee Counties of Humphreys, Benton, Decatur, Hardin, Wayne, Henry, Henderson, Perry, Stewart, Houston, and Carroll. The Kentucky Counties include Livingston, Marshall, Lyon, Calloway, and Trigg.
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