MONTGOMERY — TVA could have revised policies on transferring water away from the Tennessee Valley soon after the first of the year.

Tennessee Valley Authority officials expect the board to adopt changes now in the drafting process.

But don’t expect any revisions to make it easy for areas not served by TVA to draw water from the Tennessee River and transfer it to other areas.

Water resources experts consider such inter-basin transfers a threat to the system.

TVA spokesman Gil Francis called the proposed changes in TVA policy on inter-basin transfers routine. They are not the result of Atlanta’s scramble to look for new water sources during drought, he said.

Atlanta briefly considered the Tennessee River as a solution to its water shortage problems this fall, but apparently dropped the idea of running a pipeline south from Tennessee.

Francis said TVA has no request from Atlanta or other major cities to transfer water away from the river. Even if such a transfer ultimately received approval, the process would take years.

What seems like an easy solution to areas far away is not simple after all, he said.

“If you take water from one river basin and give it to another, it is gone forever,” Francis said. “Then you have two areas, not one, with a water shortage during drought.

“There are federal regulations that prohibit that,” Francis said. “First priority has to be the seven states TVA serves.”

Areas that get water from the river, like the Tennessee Valley in Alabama, may seem awash with water resources compared to large parts of the Southeast.

“We can say that the Valley is rich with water. Well yes, it is, but not this year,” Francis said.

Drought hit here, too, but measures put in place when the federal government established TVA mean the area is better equipped to deal with drought than many other areas.

The dams TVA built years ago for flood control and electrification are part of the reason the system has enough water during drought.

“They are pretty good for drought control, it turns out,” he said.

2005 revision

TVA last revised its inter-basin transfer policies in 2005.

Francis said the severity of the drought was a factor in the TVA board’s decision to revisit the policies. The board began reviewing all agency policies more than a year ago, he said.

In an interview with The Daily in 2005, TVA water supply manager Gene Gibson expressed concern about the possibility of a run on the river’s water supply through pipeline transfers to other areas.

Such transfers rarely return any water to the river system, he said.

Counties the river serves in Alabama, including Morgan, Lawrence and Limestone, passed local laws beginning in 2005. The laws prohibit large transfers from the river in those counties .

Gibson said large requests from other areas could affect water quality and water levels in TVA reservoirs and feeder streams as far north as Virginia.

Francis said the drought affected TVA, too.

Because of the reservoirs and seasonal adjustments in water levels, he said, TVA expects to maintain minimum water flows to areas like North Alabama.

If the severe drought continues beyond the next few months, questions about water-level reductions and conservation measures could arise again.

Currently TVA does not have systemwide policies that dictate local use.

“We leave that up to states,” Framcis said.

Alabama has no statewide water plan and estimates it will take years to develop one.

Francis said the water conservation discussion goes beyond the Southeast. “It is a national discussion,” he said.

Love that dirty water . . .