Mobile District maintains 22 locks on four waterway systems:
If you plan to travel by boat on one of these river systems, we recommend checking the scheduled lock closures and hydropower generation schedules (see left). Lock closures can be as short as one day or as long as 30 days. Most closures are planned months and even years ahead of the closure but emergencies can require closing locks to traffic at any time.
Hydropower
As the largest owner/operator of hydroelectric power plants in the United States, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers is one of the largest suppliers of hydroelectric power in the world. The 75 USACE plants are located throughout the country and have a total installed capacity of 20,474 megawatts. The annual production of nearly 100 billion kilowatt-hours—nearly a third of the nation’s total hydropower output—represents enough energy to serve about 10 million households, or roughly 10 cities the size of Seattle.
One of the five districts comprising the South Atlantic Division, the Mobile District produces hydroelectric power at eight powerhouses. The majority of the power is sold to the preferred utilities through Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA), headquartered in Elberton, Georgia.