The water does get aereated as it comes out of the dam......I don't know if thats enough to bring it up to where it should be......however........as the water passes though the gorge the water is "cleaned and restored" for lack of better words. The RF actually has a Kentucky Division of Water designation of "Outstanding Waters" from the KY/VA state line to the rail road yard (1.6 miles) in EC. This I'm sure is mostly the result of the filtering and aereation that takes place within the gorge. This is probably why the fishing seems pretty good between KY/VA line down a few miles down the river........