| Carters Dam | |
| Country: | United States |
| Location: | Murray County, Georgia |
| Status: | Operational |
| Opening: | 1977 |
| Builder: | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
| Designed By: | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
Carters Dam is an earthen embankment dam located south of Chatsworth in Murray County and west of Ellijay in northwestern Georgia, United States, that creates Carters Lake.
The dam is tall and is situated above the mouth of the Coosawattee River. The drainage area is
.[1]The dam took 15 years to build and was completed in . The area of the primary flood control pool is
. The top elevation of the dam is . The top width of the dam is . The dam is constructed of rock and earth and is the tallest earthen dam east of the Mississippi River.The dam has a diversion tunnel that is
. It is a horseshoe shape with a bottom width of .[2]The lake is the deepest manmade reservoir east of the Mississippi River and deepest lake in Georgia. The created lake is more than
deep and has of shoreline without any private docks or other development.Below the dam is a
1000acres retention and re-regulation lake (Reregulation Reservoir). The hydroelectric plant is of the pumped storage type. That is, during off-peak hours the water from the retention lake is pumped back up to Carters Lake for use in generating power during the next time of peak demand. The dam's power station contains 2 × Francis turbines and 2 × 160 MW Modified Francis pump turbines for used in pumped-storage (500MW).[3]Electricity from the dam is marketed by the Southeastern Power Administration.[4]