Difference between revisions of "GCDAMP- HFE 2013"

Revision as of 12:37, 23 September 2016

High Flow Experiment- 2013

HFE DETAILS

• Dates: November 11-16, 2013 (Water Year 2014)
• Start Upramp: November 11, 9am
• Open Bypass Tubes: November 11, 1pm
• Full Capacity: November 11, 8pm - November 15, 8pm
• Finish HFE: November 16, 3pm
• Total HFE duration: 5 days, 3 hrs
• Sediment in the system: 1.5 Million metric tons
• Units available: 6
• Powerplant capacity = ~19,100 cfs
• Peak CFS: ~34,100
• November volume = 670 kaf
• Estimated acre feet of water bypassed during HFE: approx. 129,000 af
• Hourly Releases before and after HFE: fluctuate between 5,000 to 8,000 cfs
• Initial estimate of costs to Hydropower: $1.74 million
• Actual cost to Hydropower: $2.593 million
• Direct expenses for removal of concession assets: $9,961

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

• Financial analysis of experimental releases conducted at Glen Canyon Dam during Water Year 2014 (i.e. the 2013 HFE)
• Final HFE Memo to Larry Walkoviak 10-25-13 with attachment
• Fall 2013 HFE Protocol Decision Process
• 2013 HFE Locations and dates of hydrograph routing
• System Overview to Basin States- USGS Schmidt
• USGS Science Overview- Fisheries and Aquatic Ecology to Basin States- SVanderkooi

COMPLIANCE

• A 30-day letter was sent notifying MOA signatories of a possible HFE in November 2013.
• DOI consultation meeting with the Basin States_ October 22, 2013.
• Government to Government tribal consultation: Pueblo of Zuni_ September 10, 2013.
• Government to Government tribal consultation: Navajo Nation_ September 11, 2013.

CONCERNS

• Pueblo of Zuni: concern that multiple HFE's under the HFE protocol could result in power cost increases for individual rate payers.

Request to USBR made for detailed description on how the economic effects of multiple HFEs on power rate payers will be monitored.

SEDIMENT

2013 Paria River discharge and cumulative sand inputs

• "The quality of sand available is huge, and to put it in perspective, there will be more sand AFTER this HFE (about 800,000 mt) than before last year's HFE (about 650,000 mt)." [GKnowles_TWG MM_131106]

ADDITIONAL

• Updates on the 2013 High Flow Experiment
• 2013 Sandbar tour: deposition following the 2013 high flow on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon
• GCMRC has installed digital cameras that capture 5 Images every day at 33 sandbar monitoring sites throughout Marble and Grand Canyon between Lees Ferry and Diamond Creek.
• Modified original proposal to avoid additional WAPA hydropower loss (off-peak hour sales) -- Saves $30,000
• Glen Canyon Dam will start pumping an Olympic-sized swimming pool worth of water into the Colorado River every other minute--INCORRECT--LINK
• “By sending enough water downstream to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool every few seconds...
• the 96-hour-release will pick up enough sand from river channels to fill a building as big as a football field and as tall as the Washington Monument, all the way to the brim.”
• Lake Powell is expected to drop 2.5 feet during the course of the week. --LINK

• SVaderkooiFact Check on swimming pool comparison: Wikipedia Swimming pool size. Assuming a depth of 2 m, a 50 m x 25 m pool equals about 88,000 cubic feet. At peak Reclamation said the release from the dam was around 34,000 cfs so an olympic-sized pool would fill in about 2.6 s. Note that the USGS gage at Lees Ferry measured peak flow at about 37,000 cfs, so a little quicker (about 2.4 s) if you use that number.

Contributor: Category: Sediment, Recreation, Water delivery