Center Hill Lake is a reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. It is located in Middle Tennessee

Middle Tennessee

Middle Tennessee is a distinct portion of the state of Tennessee, delineated according to state law as the 41 counties in the Middle Grand Division of Tennessee....

 near Smithville

Smithville, Tennessee

Smithville is a city in DeKalb County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,994 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of De Kalb County.-Geography:...

. Created by means of a dam constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1948, the lake had a dual purpose: electricity production and flood control. Center Hill Dam is 260 ft (79.2 m) high, and it is composed of concrete and earth structures, with 8 gates that are 50 ft (15.2 m) wide each.

The lake, which is 64 miles (103 km) long, covers an area of 18220 acre (73.7 km²). Center Hill Lake has a storage capacity of 762000 acre.ft of water. The lake has approximately 415 mi (667.9 km) of shoreline, with the deepest point at 190 ft (57.9 m). The watershed area for the lake is 2174 square miles (5,630.6 km²). The lake is well-known for water recreation and fishing.
Major tributaries of Center Hill Lake include the Caney Fork (the main tributary) and the Falling Water River

Falling Water River

The Falling Water River is a stream in the east-central portion of Middle Tennessee in the United States. It is a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River. By the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....

.

Edgar Evins

Edgar Evins State Park

Edgar Evins State Park is a state park in DeKalb County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of along the shores of Center Hill Lake, an impoundment of the Caney Fork. The State of Tennessee leases the land from the U.S...

, Burgess Falls

Burgess Falls State Park

Burgess Falls State Park is a state park and state natural area in Putnam County and White County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States...

 and Rock Island State Park

Rock Island State Park (Tennessee)

Rock Island State Park is a state park in Warren County and White County, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The park is named after the community of Rock Island, Tennessee, which in turn received its name from an island on the Caney Fork upstream from the Collins River...

s contain portions of the lake's shoreline, the rest of which has been relatively underdeveloped until recent years. Lately, the area surrounding Center Hill Lake has been the target of land developers, who have begun construction on several upper-middle-class vacation homes and condos. Some locals protest that these actions are destroying the beauty of nature that make it such an attractive locale for such developments.

In January 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed Center Hill Dam under a high risk for failure, along with Wolf Creek Dam

Wolf Creek Dam

The Wolf Creek Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Cumberland River in the western part of Russell County, Kentucky, United States. The dam serves at once four distinct purposes: it generates hydroelectricity; it regulates and limits flooding; it releases stored water to permit year-round navigation...

 in Russell County, Kentucky

Russell County, Kentucky

Russell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 17,565 in the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Jamestown. The county is named for William Russell...

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External links

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Hot Topics — Information concerning seepage at Center Hill Dam