Watts Bar Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...

 in Meigs County

Meigs County, Tennessee

Meigs County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 11,753. Its county seat is Decatur.-History:Before 1819, the area that is now Meigs County was Cherokee territory. White settlers established ferries to cross the Tennessee River from Rhea County as...

 and Rhea County, Tennessee

Rhea County, Tennessee

Rhea County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 28,400. Its county seat is Dayton.-Geography:According to the U.S...

, USA. The dam is one of nine dams on the main Tennessee River channel operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

, which built the dam in 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 39090 acres (15,819.2 ha) Watts Bar Lake

Watts Bar Lake

Watts Bar Lake is a reservoir on the Tennessee River created by Watts Bar Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority system.-Geography:Located about midway between Chattanooga and Knoxville, the lake begins as the Tennessee River below Fort Loudon Dam in Lenoir City, Tennessee and stretches...

— which it impounds— and Chickamauga Lake

Chickamauga Lake

Chickamauga Lake is a United States reservoir along the Tennessee River created when the Chickamauga Dam, as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority, was completed in 1940. The lake stretches from Watts Bar Dam at mile 529.9 to Chickamauga Dam at mile 471.0 making the lake 58.9 miles long...

, which stretches from the dam's tailwaters southward to Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

.