Coosa River

From ShelbyWiki

The Coosa River is one of Alabama's most utilized rivers. It begins in the northwestern corner of Georgia where several mountain [tributaries of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Cumberland Plateau join together, mostly notably, the Conasauga, Coosawattee, Oostanaula and Etowah Rivers. Around 90% of the Coosa River's length is located in Alabama. The river starts in Rome, Georgia and ends just northeast of the Alabama state capital, Montgomery, where it merges with the Tallapoosa River to form the Alabama River.

The Coosa River Basin is one of the rainiest places in the US, with the average precipitation rate ranging from 52 to 64 inches per year. Except for parts of Hawaii, only two areas in the northwest states of Washington and Oregon get more rain than the Coosa River Basin.

There are a total of seven dams between Georgia and the Coosa’s confluence with the Tallapoosa River which alter the Coosa River's natural flow for almost its entire length in Alabama. Although the idea of using the Coosa as a navigational waterway into the interior of northeastern Alabama never materialized, hydroelectric power dams have proved very valuable to the people of Alabama, but costly to the species located in the mainstem of the Coosa River. In Alabama itself, most of the river has been impounded, with Alabama Power, a unit of the Southern Company, maintaining 6 power dams on the Coosa to this day.