GCDAMP- HFE 2013
From Glen Canyon Dam AMP
| High Flow Experiment- 2013 | |
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- HFE DETAILS -SUMMARY:
- Sediment in the system: 1.5 Million metric tons
- Peak CFS: ~34,100
- Estimated costs to WAPA Hydropower: $1.74 million
- 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
- Direct expenses for removal of concession assets: $9,961
- Units available: 6
- Powerplant capacity = ~19,100 cfs
- November volume = 670 kaf
- Start Upramp: 10am
- Finish HFE: 1pm
- Total HFE duration: 5 days, 3 hrs
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
- 131025 Final HFE Memo to Larry Walkoviak 10-25-13 with attachment
- 131022 Fall 2013 HFE Protocol Decision Process
- 131022 2013 HFE Locations and dates of hydrograph routing
- 131022 System Overview to Basin States- USGS Schmidt
- 131022 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
- "The quality of sand available is huge, and to put it in perspective, there will be more sand AFTER this HFE (about 8000,000 mt) than before last year's HFE (about 650,000 mt)." [GKnowles_TWG MM_131106]
ADDITIONAL
- 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
