11-06-2013, 05:51 PM
[url "http://azdailysun.com/news/local/high-flow-release-set-for-glen-canyon-dam/article_152740ac-45e3-11e3-a801-001a4bcf887a.html"]http://azdailysun.com/news/local/high-flow-release-set-for-glen-canyon-dam/article_152740ac-45e3-11e3-a801-001a4bcf887a.html[/url]
High-flow release set for Glen Canyon Dam
Manmade flood unleashed in Grand Canyon
Water flows from the number one and two jet tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam today in Page. The Department of Interior is experimenting with high flows of water from the dam to help, in part, to rebuild beaches along the Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon. (Matt York/Associated Press)
[url "http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azdailysun.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/8d/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5.preview-300.jpg"]![[Image: c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5.preview-300.jpg]](http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azdailysun.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/8d/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5.preview-300.jpg)
[/url]
Next week, Glen Canyon Dam will start pumping an Olympic-sized swimming pool worth of water into the Colorado River every other second.
The flooding, part of a long-planned high-flow release experiment, will last from Monday to Saturday.
The experiment is an attempt to replicate the high-flow conditions that would naturally be seen in the Grand Canyon before the dam, where sediment rich water creates beaches and critical wildlife habitat. Those conditions were removed from the Canyon until experimental releases started in 1996.
At its peak, next week’s release will hit 37,200 cubic feet per second over the course of four days, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
Lake Powell is expected to drop 2.5 feet during the course of the week.
The release — unrelated to recent weather events — will balance out the two feet of elevation gain Lake Powell picked up during 11 days of monsoon rainfall during September.
However, the annual release total will not be affected by the experiment. Dam managers will subtract the water released during the experiment from the 7.48 million acre feet to be sent toward Lake Mead this year.
Despite September runoff being 210 percent above average, this year has been the fourth driest runoff at Lake Powell since the dam was closed in 1963. That follows the third driest year on record in 2012. And dam managers say that the last 14 years have been the driest stretch the dam has seen since construction.
Next year’s Colorado River Basin forecast remains uncertain. The influx of monsoonal runoff helped improve forecasts slightly, but under every projection the Bureau of Reclamation has created, 2014 will be the first year that Lake Powell fails to meet it downstream water obligation of 8.23 million acre feet of water.
[signature]
High-flow release set for Glen Canyon Dam
Manmade flood unleashed in Grand Canyon
Water flows from the number one and two jet tubes at the Glen Canyon Dam today in Page. The Department of Interior is experimenting with high flows of water from the dam to help, in part, to rebuild beaches along the Colorado River that runs through the Grand Canyon. (Matt York/Associated Press)
[url "http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/azdailysun.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/8d/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5/c8d7f109-311e-5bef-aa89-f757325437d5.preview-300.jpg"]
[/url]Next week, Glen Canyon Dam will start pumping an Olympic-sized swimming pool worth of water into the Colorado River every other second.
The flooding, part of a long-planned high-flow release experiment, will last from Monday to Saturday.
The experiment is an attempt to replicate the high-flow conditions that would naturally be seen in the Grand Canyon before the dam, where sediment rich water creates beaches and critical wildlife habitat. Those conditions were removed from the Canyon until experimental releases started in 1996.
At its peak, next week’s release will hit 37,200 cubic feet per second over the course of four days, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
Lake Powell is expected to drop 2.5 feet during the course of the week.
The release — unrelated to recent weather events — will balance out the two feet of elevation gain Lake Powell picked up during 11 days of monsoon rainfall during September.
However, the annual release total will not be affected by the experiment. Dam managers will subtract the water released during the experiment from the 7.48 million acre feet to be sent toward Lake Mead this year.
Despite September runoff being 210 percent above average, this year has been the fourth driest runoff at Lake Powell since the dam was closed in 1963. That follows the third driest year on record in 2012. And dam managers say that the last 14 years have been the driest stretch the dam has seen since construction.
Next year’s Colorado River Basin forecast remains uncertain. The influx of monsoonal runoff helped improve forecasts slightly, but under every projection the Bureau of Reclamation has created, 2014 will be the first year that Lake Powell fails to meet it downstream water obligation of 8.23 million acre feet of water.
[signature]
