Tennessee Valley Authority Collection

On May 18, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Act passed by Congress, creating a new agency owned by the federal government.  It would solely concentrate on developing ways to improve the region by using resources available.  It was created to improve job development and to see the results contributed to "the well-being of the people."  It recommended that additional measures be taken to promote "an orderly and proper physical, economic, and social development" of the area. At the time the TVA needed to focus on correcting the effects of the stock market crash of 1929.  They were enacted to feed the hungry, to provide jobs for the despairing idle, to stimulate the recovery of industry, to restore prosperity to agriculture, and to provide safeguards against another cycle of boom and bust. There had never before been an agency like the TVA.  Everything from rules and regulations to the strategy of running the TVA had to be developed.  This took a few years, especially with controversy between the Board members of the organization.  Eventually, it got in its feet and began the changes it was intended to do. It has contributed to reduction of pollution, designed waste disposal systems, undertaken economic studies, demonstrated improved methods of forest management and wood utilization, and advanced the changes in farm practices required to restore fertility to the soil.  Because it could face the total job, the habitat for fish and wildlife has been improved, recommendation affecting the transportation system have been submitted, and methods of restoring land damaged by strip mining have been demonstrated. A system of thirty-three major dams on the Tennessee and its major tributaries control the river's flow.  The major water control projects built by TVA are multipurpose.  They prevent flood damage, generate electric energy for the region's use, and provide a year-round navigation channel from Paducah, Kentucky at the river's mouth to Knoxville where the Tennessee begins. When the TVA was created, there were some 230,000 residential consumers of electricity in the area it now serves.  The entire power program was an experiment.  No one could measure the effect of a deliberate effort to provide electricity "at the lowest possible rate," to establish prices not to assure profits but to encourage use.  The low rate - high use theory of electricity marketing had never been tried on such a scale before.  However, the use of electricity sky-rocketed and increased so dramatically since the TVA was established that eventually nuclear plants were constructed to meet the normal system load growth. In 1933, about half the people f the Valley lived on farms with an average size of seventy acres.  Within the years of change, soil depletion became a major problem for farmers.  The combination of electricity, new plant food, and the patient application of technical knowledge has reversed the cycle of soil depletion that threatened the Valley's land resource in the 1930s. The TVA Act mentioned industrial development as a purpose of the TVA, but their main focus was on farming and providing electricity.  However, as farming began to diminish, industry began to flourish and provide many with jobs.  A variety of industries opened - such as a food processing plant, a cheese factory, forestry based enterprises, paper mills, and many more. Not only did the TVA have to focus on water control, but as waterways began to change - pollution became a big problem.  Before construction on the river, pollution was not considered a problem.  Sewage and garbage were being dumped into the river and lakes.  When the river was swiftly passing, pollution did not pose a problem, but once it slowed it became a big problem.  However, the TVA could not govern the public to take precaution against this.  Eventually the situation revealed the polluters and the TVA tried to arouse public interest, urged action, and offered technical assistance.  Financial assistance from other government agencies helped hasten the pollution problems by stopping sewage discharge and setting regulations for the industries who were developing along the river.  With all of these changes, the TVA and local agencies helped make the Tennessee cleaner today than it was before the TVA's first survey was reported. The TVA extended its purposes of water control and preventing pollution to also preserving landmarks, buildings, and homes along the river.  The TVA strives to preserve and increase the attractions along the river, and harmonize the requirements of the future with remembrance of the past. The TVA has had many accomplishments during the past and helped provide the Tennessee Valley and surrounding areas with accessories that has lead to today's necessities.  The TVA has helped America become a better nation by providing the Tennessee Valley with assistance.  Not only has the TVA achieved much of what it set out to do, but it has also led to the attitude of today's society as a whole.