10/28/2016

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Dams:(Bad timing.)BREAKING NEWS: Waterkeeper Alliance and Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Respond to Duke Energy Cooling Pond Dam Breach of Quaker Neck Lake inFlooding Aftermath of HurricaneMatthewOctober 12th, 2016, blog.cleanenergy.org The following press release is fromWaterkeeper Alliance.

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Today,Waterkeeper Alliance and Upper NeuseRiverkeeper are responding to anddocumenting the breach of a 1.2-billion-galloncooling pond dam at Duke Energy’s H.F. Lee

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Some Dam – Hydro News TM

And Other Stuff

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Quote of Note: “Far and away te best prize tat life has t ofer is te chance t work hard at work wort doing." - Teodore Roosevelt

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“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas JeffersonRon’s wine pick of the week: 2013 Jacobs Creek Syrah & Shiraz (Other than French) "Two Lands" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

plant. The breach occurred just minutes after Duke Energy issued a statement claiming that the “Ash basin and cooling pond dams across the state continue to operate safely; in fact, we’ve beenpleased with their good performance during the historic flooding Hurricane Matthew brought to eastern North Carolina.” Pete Harrison, Staff Attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance and Matthew Starr,Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, released the following statement in response to the incident: “When families are being threatened by some of the worst flooding in North Carolina’s history, they should not also have to worry about Duke Energy’s dams collapsing. “This failure likely happened because the river has begun to recede, which is when structural problems often develop. Like so many of Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds across the state, the cooling pond at Lee has a long history of structural problems – these are disasters waiting to happen.

“Minutes before the dam collapsed on the cooling pond, Duke Energy issued a statement declaring it was operating safely. Duke continues to claim the dam of a 120-acre coal ash pond atLee is operating safely, even though the river has only begun to recede. The same ash pond suffered extensive damage after flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999. We remain very concerned about the integrity of the ash pond dams at Lee as the river recedes over the next week. “It has been more than two years since the Dan River disaster, and Duke’s coal ash continues to sit behind rickety dams on the banks of flood-prone rivers all across the state. Three ash ponds at the Lee plant, totaling 160 acres, have been completely submerged since Sunday.”Waterkeeper Alliance and North Carolina Riverkeepers are conducting aerial patrols of the site today. Photos and videos will be uploaded to the organizations’ Flickr page later today.Waterkeeper Alliance continues to activate its Rapid Response protocol with 13 North Carolina Riverkeeper organizations as they work to document the potentially devastating impacts of flooded coal ash ponds, factory swine, and poultry facilities on the state’s waterways in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. (Oh my, what are they doing?)Duke Energy 'Asleep at the Switch,' Takes News Station to Inform Them of Dam Breach By Kristin Falzon, Oct. 14, 2016, ecowatch.com The embarrassment continues for Duke Energy who isdealing with the breach of a 1.2-billion-gallon cooling ponddam at its H.F. Lee plant due to flooding from HurricaneMatthew. It all began Wednesday morning when DukeEnergy issued a statement claiming that the "ash basin andcooling pond dams across the state continue to operatesafely," but then helicopter footage from Raleigh's localtelevision station WRAL showed that one of the dams hadbeen breached. In the statement, Duke Energy alsoattacked Waterkeeper Alliance for raising what Dukeconsidered inaccurate and inappropriate concerns about thesafety of coal ash ponds in the wake of Matthew. OnThursday, Duke spokeswoman Erin Culbert confirmed to theCharlotte Business Journal that the company found out about the breach after WRAL contacted Duke about a half-hour after their statement came out and shared its video. Culbert said a Duke inspection crew had flown over the area earlier in the morning and, at the time, the dam was intact and showed no signs of stress. After they saw the video, the company put out an update acknowledging the damage at the dam.

"We are really grateful for their good timing which allowed us to respond and put our emergency protocols into effect," Culbert said. Donna Lisenby of Waterkeeper Alliance said this incident proves Duke Energy was "asleep at the switch when it was supposed to be monitoring the safety of dams at the H.F. Lee facility during record setting floods." "They weren't aware of a 50-foot wide breach in the cooling pond dam until notified by a TV crew. How is it possible for a company with helicopters actively flying over dams and hundreds of engineers to miss a 50-foot-wide

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breach? Apparently, one small WRAL news crew is more competent and better at monitoring the safety and integrity of Duke Energy dams than all the hundreds of Duke Energy employees and contractors combined," Lisenby exclaimed. Duke Energy said the 545-acre man-made reservoir that was breached does not contain coal ash and supplies cooling water to power plants at the site. It said the active ash basins are not affected by this incident and continue to operate safely."We are giving this our fullest attention," said Regis Repko, senior vice president of Fossil-Hydro Operations. "We are assessing what resources we need and will position repair materials so we can respond quickly once conditions are safe to do so."

(Nice looking arch dam, at least from overhead.)Sweetwater Authority Board Votes to Fund Sweetwater Dam Improvement ProjectThe project is expected to be completed by December 2018.By Rafael Avitabile, 10/14/16, nbcsandiego.com

The Sweetwater Authority Board, CAvoted to reserve more than $8 million tofund an improvement project for theSweetwater Dam. The action, taken at aWednesday Board meeting, cameweeks after David Gutierrez, Chief ofthe State of California Division of Safetyof Dams (DSOD), gave a presentationat a September 28 board meetinghighlighting unsafe features of the dam.During the presentation Gutierrez saidthat the dam may be unsafe undercertain hydraulic conditions and that theDSOD could restrict the Sweetwater Reservoir’s storage capacity if improvements were not made.

Required improvements to the dam include adding anti-erosion walls and new concrete armored surfaces to the sides of the dam. In addition, the height of the South Dike, the structure that helps contain the water on the south side of the reservoir, will be elevated. Approval of project designs and an environmental review, which carry an estimated cost of $300,000, make up the first phase of the project. Construction is scheduled to begin during the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The project is expected to be completed by December 2018.

(And some numbskull politicians said it couldn’t happen again. This is about saving lives and property.)Dams again failing in South Carolina By SAMMY FRETWELL, thestate.com, October 13,2016

COLUMBIA - A year-long effort todramatically upgrade South Carolina’sbeleaguered dam safety program didn’tprevent at least 25 dams from failing duringHurricane Matthew last weekend. The dams,almost all in eastern South Carolina, crackedand ruptured as drenching rains pounded thePee Dee, causing rivers, creeks and pondsto spill their banks. This year’s failuresoccurred almost exactly a year after 51 state-regulated dams breached during a historic

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flood that blasted Columbia and coastal South Carolina. Following the October 2015 flood, the Legislature more than doubled the state’s dam safety budget and sharply increased staffing. However, the General Assembly failed to pass legislation that would have increased regulation of dams and given state regulators more authority to enforce the rules. Some of the dams broken byMatthew had drawn scrutiny from state environmental regulators after last year’s flood, records show.Among the dams that failed last weekend was a Clarendon County structure that breached duringthe 2015 flood and was undergoing repairs at the state Department of Health and Environmental Control’s direction, according to agency records and emails. Another was a Dillon County dam whose owner was told by DHEC to make improvements so the earthen structure would not erode,an August 2016 inspection report says. The agency said the owner should seed the dam with grass, while also watching for signs of seepage. “Maintenance activities not requiring a permit should be undertaken immediately, and repeated as often as necessary to prevent a hazardous situation from arising,’’ according to an Aug. 16, 2016, inspection letter. It was unknown Thursday night if those improvements had been made.

The 25 dams that DHEC said failed after Matthew are in Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Lee, Horry, Marion, Chesterfield, Marlboro and Lexington counties. The agency also is watching two dams that did not break, but are in danger of doing so in Marion and Florence counties.One Columbia lawyer familiar with dam safety issues questioned why more wasn’t done to shore up dams before Matthew blustered through. Pete Strom, who has sued dam owners in Columbia on behalf of downstream property owners, said dams should not break if properly built and maintained. Broken dams can cause damage to property downstream, and in some cases, result in death. “There is no education in the second kick of a mule,’’ he said. “Everybody should have learned after last year that they need to get their dams checked.’’ “But it’s also disappointing the state is not doing a better job regulating these dams.’’ DHEC officials said they’ve made progress in improving dam safety, issuing 75 emergency orders against dam owners after the October 2015 flood. But the agency says it isn’t easy. When the agency locates dam owners, they sometimes can’t afford to repair or rebuild the structures, agency officials say. The cost of a new dam can top $1 million. “It is very expensive to fix these dams,’’ DHEC director Catherine Heigel told the DHEC board at Thursday’s monthly meeting.

The department said in a statement that some dam failures are difficult to avoid when massive rains fall. “Earthen dams are susceptible to failure during a major storm event like Hurricane Matthew or last October’s historic floods,’’ the statement said. “Like last year, we experienced an incredible storm event, the impacts of which were further compounded by poor maintenance and dams that were constructed prior to regulations.’’ After years of running one of the nation’s most threadbare dam safety programs, DHEC received nearly $600,000 extra from the Legislature in 2016 so it could add staff to inspect and better regulate dams. Through the years, the department had failed to inspect many dams as often as it wanted to because the Legislature provided little money for the program. The extra money from the Legislature increased the department’s dam safety budget to about $1 million, more than doubling the amount of money dedicated to the program. Today, DHEC has about 13 positions in the dam safety program, up from six last year.DHEC already had put major emphasis on improving the program following the 51 dam failures that resulted from the October 2015 flood. Agency staffers from other programs helped the department’s dam safety program, as did officials with federal agencies, which helped inspect anddocument problems.

In the weeks following the October 2015 storm, the department inspected more than 650 of the dams most likely to cause property damage or loss of life to determine what kind of shape the mostly earthen structures were in. State lawmakers have praised Heigel’s efforts to improve the dam safety program, and DHEC says it has had success in getting some dams upgraded.Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, and Rep. Roger Kirby, D-Florence, said a natural disaster likeMatthew was bound to damage some dams. Sheheen also said it’s hard to erase long-term neglect in the dam safety program. “In a major disaster, some repercussions are going to occur; some dams will fail,’’ Sheheen said after speaking at a Clemson University water conference in

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Columbia. “My sense is the state has still not caught up to its responsibilities to inspect and improve the dams. The neglect has occurred for 30 years.’’ One of the major stumbling blocks to tighter oversight of dams is state law, Sheheen said. DHEC needs more authority, he said.Lawmakers last year discussed a series of tougher rules, but backed down after rural landowners complained that tougher rules could be an intrusion on their rights. The rules would have increased inspections in heavily populated areas, toughened penalties and required dam owners to post bonds to remove structures, if the dams became unsafe. House members have formed a new committee to discuss changing the law. Heigel spent much of the day Thursday briefing statepolicy makers and others about what the agency has discovered since Matthew. At Thursday’s DHEC board meeting, she showed slides of failed dams across the Pee Dee. “We have so many structures weakened by last year’s flood,’’ Heigel said.

(Wonder how many of us will reach 100?)New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Dam celebrates 100 years October 15, 2016, by Associated Press, santafenewmexican.com

ELEPHANT BUTTE — Elephant Butte Damofficially turns 100 years old Sunday andofficials are celebrating with everything fromtours of the towering structure to a fireworksshow and pie-eating contest. Neal Brownoperates Elephant Butte Lake’s threemarinas and the Dam Site Recreation Area.He told the Albuquerque Journal that it’sfitting to celebrate the dam’s centennialbecause it has had a lasting impact on thestate. “All over Southern New Mexico, peoplehave benefited from the dam, not only fromflood prevention but also through irrigation”and recreation, Brown said.The celebration started Friday and runs through next week. Events are being held in locations around the reservoir.

When completed in 1916, Elephant Butte Dam was the second-largest dam in the world, surpassed only by the Aswan Dam in Egypt. The dam provides flood control for the lower Rio Grande and irrigation water to 178,000 acres of farmland in New Mexico and Texas. It also created the state’s largest lake and has been a playground for boaters, anglers and hikers for decades. Congress authorized construction of Elephant Butte Dam in February 1905. The Bureauof Reclamation oversaw construction of the dam over a five-year period. During construction, two towns sprang up: one where workers lived and merchants set up shop and another above and east of the dam site where administrators and other officials were housed. There also was a hotel on the hill. At the height of the project, about 4,000 people occupied the towns. Brown’s company,Lago Rico Inc., has been working to preserve many of the buildings that were built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the 1930s, most of which make up the Elephant Butte Historic District. Federal and state officials along with representatives of the International Boundary and Water Commission and local irrigation districts plan to gather next week to celebrate the centennial. There will be more tours of the inside and top of the dam and a special plaque will be unveiled Wednesday, Oct. 19.

(It’s a different story when you look at the facts.)Letter: Snake River’s dams not big methane source OCTOBER 16, 2016, tri-cityherald.com

The Seattle Times article, “Hydropower isn’t carbon neutral after all” (reprinted in Tri City Herald, Oct. 1), gives the false impression that Northwest dams are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane. They are not. According to the Army Corps of

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Engineers (USCOE), methane gasproduction produced by dams depends onmany factors including location, watertemperature, river flow, depth, nutrientconcentration, plant growth, climate and theprocess that uses dissolved oxygen.

USCOE goes on to say, “For the relativelyclean reservoirs of the Federal ColumbiaRiver Power System, which include the fourlower Snake River dams, conditions for lowdissolved oxygen concentrations are not prevalent, thus methane gas is generally not an issue.”In fact, abundant hydropower is the primary reason why the Northwest’s carbon footprint is half of other parts of the country. Hydropower accounts for nearly 60 percent of the Northwest’s energy mix. These dams provide tremendous environmental and economic benefits for families and businesses—and no measurable amounts of methane gas. With the challenges of new carbon reduction policies and more being proposed, it is imperative the true cause of carbon emissions inthe Northwest and the dams are not falsely portrayed. LORI SANDERS, BENTON PUD COMMISSIONER, KENNEWICK

(Better safe than sorry!)High-hazard dam has residents on high alert\By Rob Sigler, October 17, 2016, oxfordeagle.com

A Spring Lake dam, Miss. in poor conditionhas residents concerned a potential newdevelopment could become an issue ifapproved. Recently the Lafayette CountyPlanning Commission tabled thedevelopment just off Highway 6 in order toacquire more information about the lake,which is located upstream from the proposedPebble Creek residential development. Theissue at hand is a report on the Spring Lakedam from the Mississippi Department ofEnvironmental Quality and Dusty Myers ofthe dam safety division of the MDEQ. In theSept. 23 report obtained by The EAGLE, Myers stated that “the dam is considered to be in poor condition” after a formal inspection was completed in July by a Mississippi registered professional engineer. Several issues were noted following the inspection and the dam has been classified as a “high hazard” dam. Myers added “a high hazard dam is a class of dam in which failure may result in loss of life, serious damage to residential, industrial, or commercial buildings, or damage or disruption to public utilities and major transportation facilities.”

The formal inspection noted several issues and recommended:• Remediate the erosion issues on the upstream slope, and reestablish a proper vegetative cover• Add additional riprap armoring on the upstream slope for wave wash erosion protection• Remediate the erosion issues on the downstream slope, add fill and compact holes formed from tree removal, regrade the slope and reestablish a proper vegetative cover• Repair the slope failure that has occurred on the downstream slope with the installation of a blanket drain to control the seepage• Establish a plan for upgrading the dam spillway capacity so that it meets MDEQ Dam Safety high hazard criteria• A new hydrology and hydraulics analysis is needed since there have been modifications made to the dams’ primary spillway• Remove vegetation from the primary spillway outlet

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One local official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the dam is not at the point of failing. Carl Sealy who has lived in the area for 40 years, encouraged the commission not to approve the development until more information could be gathered. “How can y’all neglect the public safety of anyone, even if it was in good condition, and put people right below a hazard dam,” asked Sealy. “Just because you meet a setback, a certain lot size, get the road all right, that does not mean it is in the welfare of the community. We could have the biggest catastrophe that’s ever happened in north Mississippi if this thing fails.” The commission decided to table the development until they hear from and acquire information from the Public Service Commission

(Good question. Dams to the rescue.)Could dams replace melting European glaciers?17 October 2016, waterpowermagazine.com

Water management in reservoirs could substantially mitigate future summer water shortages which are anticipated as a consequence of ongoing glacier retreat. A recent study by Swiss and Italian researchers has begun to explore whether dams could replicate the hydrological role of glaciers, containing and storing meltwaters at high elevations in the valleys where glaciers were once located.

Environments with snow and glaciers play a vital role in terms of water availability, and have beendescribed as “hotspots” regarding the impacts of expected climate change. Warmer temperatures will lead to a reduction in the size and duration of snow covered areas, whilst glaciers are expected to retreat substantially. This is anticipated to significantly affect the seasonality of runoff and result in a reduction of the water yields from high mountain areas. Indeed an estimated 80% of Switzerland’s annual water supply will be lost by 2100 as glaciers in the Alps retreat under rising temperatures. Further estimates suggest that under an average emission scenario, annual runoff contributions from presently glacierised surfaces are expected to decrease by 16% by 2070–2099 - despite nearly unchanged contributions from precipitation. This is even more pronounced during the late summer months when a decrease of about 37% is projected. The need for adequate water management strategies in the future will become paramount.

Research effortsA new study jointly led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL); the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra, Italy; and the Laboratoryof Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) at ETH Zurich, presents for the first time an estimate for the potential of mitigation by managing water through reservoirs. The basic idea is to transfer the additional water expected to be available during spring, because of an earlier onset ofthe melting season, to the summer months. The team simulated the effect of climatic change on glaciers across the European Alps and estimated that two thirds of the effect on seasonal water availability could be avoided when storing water in areas becoming ice free. The authors, Daniel Farinotti, Alberto Pistocchi and Matthias Huss, say that potential of exploiting newly deglacierised areas has not often been addressed. It has also been suggested that: “Since the exposed foreelds are bare, non-vegetated and relatively simple in their ecosystem structure, a potential exploitation could result in comparatively limited ecological impacts. Similarly, it could be argued that an intervention in the uppermost part of a given river stretch would have only minimal consequences on river continuity.” This led the authors to asking the “admittedly provocative” question of whether replacing glaciers by dams could be an option theoretically worth considering in order to mitigate the projected changes in summer runoff. Effectively reservoirs would replace part of the hydrological effect currently provided by glaciers and the seasonal snow pack.

European AlpsIn this study the authors focused on the European Alps as it is a region expected to be significantly affected by future changes in snow- and glacier-fed water resources. They used the output of a global glacier model (GloGEM) in combination with latest climate projections to assessthe evolution of both glacier extent and run off until the end of the century. Storage capacities

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required for achieving the maximum possible mitigation were then computed and compared with an estimate of retention volumes that could hypothetically be installed in newly deglacierised forefields. As part of the research, dams were virtually placed at the locations of the current glacier terminus and the volume of each individually formed lake was calculated. Dam heights and widths were limited to a maximum of 280m and 800m respectively (the dimensions of the largest dams currently installed in the Alpine area). According to the research team, the potential for mitigating runoff reduction in the summer months is significant, and possibly of importance for individual regions. Results showed that the potentially available volume is ten times larger than the required one, and that about a dozen of centralised dams would be sufficient for meeting the storage demand. The authors estimated that “by 2070–2099, roughly 1 cubic meter of water couldbe seasonally redistributed, and that this volume would be sufficient to offset about two thirds of the expected changes in July–September runoff across the European Alps.” However Farinotti et al are quick to highlight that their analysis “clearly neglects a whole series of factors”. They point out that ecological, environmental, economical, and technical considerations, amongst others, would need to be considered. While their theoretical study does not also consider competing interests “that would likely arise in case of a widespread installation of artificial reservoirs”. Indeedthe authors go on to mention that the typical seasonal production cycle of current hydropower infrastructure installed in the Alpine region, is exactly anti-cyclical with their proposed mitigation strategy. They state that current hydropower operators with storage typically accumulate water during summer in order to produce energy during winter. In addition to the above limitations, the authors acknowledge that seasonally transferring a given runoff volume cannot compensate for a reduction in the total annual runoff. There would also be technical challenges in centralising the water of the many glaciers (currently about 4000) across the Alps. Although Farinotti et al admit that their technical solution would only solve part of the problem of water shortages due to ongoing glacier retreat and snow melt, they believe their study highlights the need for alternative water management strategies.REFERENCE:Farinotti et al. From dwindling ice to headwater lakes: Could dams replace glaciers in the European Alps? Environ. Res. Lett. (2016) 11 054022, doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/054022

(We need more dams.)Funding needed to improve flood control Oct 17, 2016, Karen Ray for EBID, southwestfarmpress.com

Dams constructed in the 1960s to protectNew Mexico farmland from flooding haveexceeded their life expectancy—and at atime when their responsibility extends tourban and residential areas which were notpart of the original design. A 2400 squaremile watershed area encompasses an areafrom the Black Range northwest of CaballoDam, south to the New Mexico/Texas stateline. For about 800 square miles of that area,or about one-third of the watershed, noinfrastructure exists to manage storm water,according to sources with the South Central New Mexico Stormwater Management Coalition (SCNMSMC). The coalition is comprises of nine different reginal entities. Lack of infrastructure to manage storm water results in severe erosion, flooding, and large quantities of sediment and debris being dumped on residences, farm fields, highways, and streets during severe weather. The coalition needs funding to maintain existing dams. Zack Libbin, Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) engineer and chairman of the SCNMSMC, says “Unfortunately it is human nature to say, ‘Oh, that dam’s been there forever,’ and people either forget about the dams or take for granted that someone else is maintaining them.”

FUNDING NEEDED

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Each Coalition entity prioritizes their own dam maintenance and then works to locate funding for contractors or EBID to do the needed work. “Currently there is very little funding available to implement the dam upgrades needed to protect residential areas,” according to the Coalition. “Storm water management is typically planned, funded, and implemented independently by a variety of public agencies in towns, cities, and districts spread throughout the region.” Those agencies have been successful in obtaining limited capital outlay money for a few improvements. However, they make the point that “stormwater does not respect political boundaries.”

EBID owns five dams: Picacho North, Picacho South, Lucero, Dona Ana North, and Tortugas #1,and co-sponsors 21 more, along with the Caballo Soil and Water Conservation District, Dona AnaSoil and Water Conservation District, and the Dona Ana County Flood Commission. The district provides labor for much of the maintenance for the Dona Ana County Flood Commission, which requests maintenance via an MOU (Memo of Understanding) for needed work like sediment removal and removal of woody growth on the dam. Although most of these dams were designed for sediment capture, increased levels of sediment reduces the storage volume for water of a dam, increasing risk for downstream residents. Many of the dams have reached their design life span and maintenance is needed to extend their life. Recent rehabilitation of Garfield Dam models the type of ongoing maintenance work critically needed on all dams in the area.

SENSOR SYSTEMDevelopment of a sensor system to improve flood control dam safety and aid in stormwater capture and dispersal from these structures has been an EBID priority. EBID is in the process of installing remote terminal units (RTUs) on EBID maintained dams to collect water level data, providing information for water management decisions on outflow from the dam’s spillways.These sensors will provide a critically needed public safety component. Each site will have two to three alarm levels designed to alert personnel when water initially shows up, overflows the release structure, and is approaching the emergency spillway level. By monitoring accumulating storm water EBID will be able to provide early warning for potential hazards and anticipate incoming river channel flows for downstream diversion and capture. Due to state law, most flood control dams can only detain water for 96 hours; however, this is sufficient time to reduce storm flow, thereby potentially reducing the quantity needed for release from Caballo Dam if well planned.

For the latest on southwest agriculture, please check out Southwest Farm Press Daily and receive the latest news right to your inbox. All "jurisdictional" dams have strict standards put in place by the Office of the State Engineer Dam Safety Bureau regulations. EBID’s Engineering andMaintenance Departments constantly work towards achieving compliance requirements of the State Engineer for the dams EBID is responsible for. District Engineer Libbin and GIS Analyst Dennis McCarville utilize GIS and other technology to develop required dam flood inundation maps of affected areas should a dam give way or breach. These dam breach analyses are required as part of Emergency Action Plans in the event of dam failure or other emergency. It is critical that sponsors put forth the money and effort necessary to maintain the dam structures but additional funding is needed, say Coalition sources. After fifty plus years of protecting primarily farmland, today dams also protect communities, greatly complicating the safety factor. Through its extensive system of RTUs monitoring precipitation data all the way down the system to the alarms and alerts set up on the flood control dams, EBID is actively working with others not only to reduce the risk associated with flooding but also to utilize the abundant but fleeting resource of a good storm.

Hydro: (More hydro is good.)By Joshua Dillen / The Baker City Herald, bakercityherald.com, 10/14/16

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Powering Ahead

Baker County, Oregon has received final approval to move forward with a hydroelectric project it has been pursuing for almost a decade at Mason Dam.

The Oregon Water Resources Departmentrecently approved the County’s use of waterto generate up to 3.4 megawatts of power,which would be sold to Idaho PowerCompany. Mason Dam, finished in 1968,created Phillips Reservoir. The reservoiralong the Powder River, about 17 milessouthwest of Baker City, is designed for floodcontrol and to store irrigation water, but itsoriginal design did not include turbines toproduce electricity. In early September theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission(FERC) licensed the project and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued a permitabout a year ago for it. Jason Yencopal, the project leader for Baker County, said the approval from the Water Resources Department is the last step. “We have two years to begin constructionon the project,” he said. Yencopal said the county could get an extension of another two years if needed, but the power plant has to be completed within five years.

He said the county is exploring options on how to proceed, including contracting with a company to build and operate the plant. The county could also lease operation of the plant and collect royalties from electricity sales. “We have to figure out what route we’re going to take,” Yencopal said. Whatever direction the county takes, Yencopal said he’s relieved that the regulatory issues have been surmounted. The biggest hurdle to the project was overcome when FERC licensed the proposed facility. FERC was initially at odds with measures that state and federal wildlife agencies and other regulatory agencies had agreed would mitigate negative effects the project could have on bull and redband trout habitat above and below the dam. After a meeting last spring, that issue was resolved.

(Pumped Storage, we don’t have enough of them.)Irrigators propose giant hydroelectric project The project near Grand Coulee Dam would use existing reservoirs to generate electricity.By Christine Pratt of The Wenatchee World, 10/14/16, union-bulletin.com

EPHRATA, WA — The three irrigation districts that channel Columbia River water to irrigators in the Columbia Basin have become the second organization since August to propose a new hydroelectric project that wouldn’t require a new dam. But this one’s a biggie. The irrigation districts’ proposed $1 billion, 500-megawatt “Banks Lake Pumped Storage” project near Grand Coulee Dam would use the existing reservoirs of Banks Lake and Lake Roosevelt to generate electricity. The group is seeking investors and federal funding. “This is a valuable resource that can provide a lot of flexible capacity that the region is going to need,” said Columbia Basin Hydropower Manager-Secretary Tim Culbertson. Culbertson is former general manager of the Grant County PUD. His current employer manages the five Columbia Basin Project power-generators that are in or supplied by the districts’ irrigation canals. The power they generate feedsSeattle and Tacoma. The project would be built on the west side of Lake Roosevelt, just upstreamof Grand Coulee Dam at Crescent Bay.

Here’s how it would work:

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Mason Dam

When electricity is plentiful and cheap, usually at nightwhen demand is low, the project’s pumps wouldtransfer Columbia River water via large pipelines fromLake Roosevelt up some 300 feet in elevation tonearby Banks Lake, the main storage reservoir thatsupplies Columbia Basin Project irrigation water.When power demand is high or when moregeneration is otherwise needed, the project wouldallow the stored water to flow back down through thepipelines into Lake Roosevelt, past two, 250-megawatt adjustable-speed generating units to makeelectricity. The project as envisioned could generate500 megawatts for up to 70 continuous hours,Culbertson said. While the stored water lasts, that’snearly as much electricity as Rock Island Dam cangenerate with a full river and all units running. Butunlike a run of the river-dam like Rock Island, when apumped-storage project’s stored water runs out, it must expend a lot of electricity to pump more river water back up to its storage reservoir.

That pumping cost, together with construction costs and insufficient projected revenues from power sales, has made these projects unfeasible for North Central Washington over the decades.Yet, this is the second pumped-storage project proposed since August. The first, by Shell Energy, is a small project designed to be expanded, as needed, over time. The 5-megawatt project would draw from the reservoir behind Chief Joseph Dam, near Bridgeport. Pumped storage gains feasibility when its potential for carbon-free, on-demand generation combines with U.S. Department of Energy funding now available for such projects. Why the sudden push for pumped storage? Renewable energy, experts say. The western states, led by California with its huge demand for power and push for cleaner energy, are requiring their utility companies supply more and more of their electricity from nontraditional renewable resources like wind and solar, Culbertson said. More than 9,000 megawatts of electricity from these sources are now installed orunder construction in the Pacific Northwest and more on the way. The region’s power-grid managers need flexible energy sources that can be instantly turned on or off to balance supply and demand when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, Culbertson said.

(Couldn’t do it without hydro.)Valdez hydropower project makes utility all-renewable in summer By Author: Alex DeMarban, 10/15/16, adn.com

The launch of a new hydroelectric system in Valdezmeans another power provider has joined the ranksof utilities that can operate fully on renewablepower, at least seasonally. Copper Valley ElectricAssociation flipped the switch on the $50 millionAllison Creek project a week ago, allowing the utilityto eliminate diesel fuel for power generation duringthe warmer months. "Right now we are 100 percenthydropower, and it feels great," said Travis Million,chief operating officer for the utility serving theCopper Valley Region in a Maryland-sized servicearea with 9,000 people.

The project, with water falling from alpine heightsblasting an electricity-generating turbine wheel, willprovide enough power to serve the utility'sresidential load of about 3,000 households, said

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The Allison Creek Hydroelectric Project nears completion in early September of 2016. This diversion structure backs up water at Allison Creek, allowing pressure to be built before the water begins its journey toward a pipe that headsdownhill to eventually spin a power-generating turbine. Excess water flows over the spillway back into the creek. (Courtesy Copper Valley

Million. The project supplements hydropower from the Solomon Gulch dam built more than 30 years ago, and will allow the utility to operate on renewable power from May to October. Freezeupwill force the utility to turn on diesel-powered generators. The additional hydro project will allow the utility to stop use of 725,000 gallons of diesel fuel in the area. The state paid for close to half the project, and about half the cost was borrowed. To service the loan, the utility must pay about $30 million over the next three decades. If oil prices rise to $100 a barrel — the price more than two years ago until they generally crashed to around $50 — the project makes money. If oil is below $100 a barrel, customers will pay a bit more as the utility pays off the debt, said Million. Theutility will join others in the state that have eliminated diesel power, in some cases year-round except for emergencies or during maintenance, such as in Juneau, Kodiak and Sitka.

(Is there any other choice in a place like Alaska?)Department of Energy eyes hydropower to help Alaska By Alex DeMarban, 10/17/16, .adn.com

The lone U.S. Department of Energyemployee in Alaska is turning hisattention to small-scale hydropowerprojects that could help ruralcommunities burdened with high energyprices, including three NorthwestAlaska villages. As Alaska programmanager for the Office of IndianEnergy, Givey Kochanowski is workingto unite resources across the UnitedStates and Alaska to support energydevelopment and efficiency programsacross the state. With Alaskans facingsome of the nation's highest energycosts and heavily dependent on dieselfuel to generate electricity and heat, theagency can play a big role in Alaska. U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, while visiting Southwest Alaska in February, said Alaska is a place where the agency is "working on a whole bunch of novel things." Moniz said then that he would add three Energy Department employees tothe Indian energy office in Alaska this year to provide communities with engineering, technical and financial assistance. But that hasn't happened yet. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is pressing Moniz to complete that commitment he made in Bethel at a field hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, saying the agency can play a role in reducing energy costs in Alaska.

"(The hiring process) remains underway, although no hires have been made to this point," said Nicole Daigle, communications director for the committee, chaired by Murkowski.Among the benefits the agency provides to communities nationally are preliminary data that wouldsuggest the costs and benefits of a project and other technical project reviews. That assistance can lead to funding from the private sector or government agencies, Kochanowski said. The Alaska office, less than three years old, has paid for solar and wind energy projects in some rural communities, and worked on natural gas opportunities for tribal governments. It may provide technical assistance to Ahtna, such as helping develop a business plan to support the Alaska Native corporation's attempt to produce natural gas from a well being drilled near Glennallen. Now, Kochanowski said in a recent interview, the Alaska office plans to increase its attention and technical support for small hydropower prospects. With thousands of rivers, streams and coastal areas that could possibly provide energy for dozens of communities, the potential is huge, he said. "This is a first step of bringing together tribal interests and hydropower up here," he said. A key goal is creating an online decision-making tool to help communities determine if potential projects in their backyard are economically viable. The effort would combine water-flow information, project-cost estimates, and other data from the Alaska Energy Authority and the

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Givey Kochanowski is the Alaska program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy in Anchorage. (BillRoth / Alaska Dispatch News)

federal agency's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he said. The project could allow a village, for example, to quickly make a "go or no-go decision" about whether it should pursue a hydropower project, said Kochanowski, based in Anchorage.

"The plan ultimately is to have the Oak Ridge laboratory do more work up here," he said. "They have analysis tools that we can use in partnership with state data to hone in on highly probable sites." The review could help communities secure public or private funding, said Sonny Adams, director of alternative energy with NANA, the Alaska Native corporation in Northwest Alaska.It could be useful for Kobuk, Shungnak and Ambler, three villages that several times over the last decade haven't received fuel barges because low snowfall has reduced water in the Kobuk River, he said. Instead, the villages have hired planes to haul in fuel, sharply boosting energy costs.

A positive review from the Department of Energy and the state could boost the prospects for a run-of-river project — not a dam — that has been studied to provide lower-cost energy for the villages, Adams said. The project would divert a portion of the river through pipe to a turbine where electricity would be produced. The water would be returned to the river. The plans call for connecting the three communities with a mini-grid of power lines to reduce costs. NANA has studied stream flow and found that the Kogoluktuk River, a tributary of the Kobuk, has good potential, Adams said. But some helpful next steps would be creating a business plan, and refining the project's estimated $35 million cost with additional design work. "They could come in and say, 'This looks great, you guys should do a public-private partnership to make this happen and here's why,' " Adams said.

The extra attention comes as funding for hydropower projects has fallen in Alaska, as the state government grapples with a massive budget crunch that has wiped more than $12 billion from savings since 2013. The Legislature has not provided new funds for hydropower projects in Alaska for the last two years, a trend that is expected to continue, said Daniel Hertrich, project manager for hydroelectric programs at the Alaska Energy Authority. "We no longer had the funding we had before, so how do we make development work? We identified there's a gap in need, and we're trying to come up with a solution," Hertrich said. Hydropower provides about 25 percent of the state's energy demands, with most of that produced in rain-rich Southeast Alaska.But there is "tremendous capability" for new projects in Alaska, Hertrich said. Hydropower projectscan pay off over the long run because of their stable costs, especially in rural communities that import diesel fuel with its volatile prices, Kochanowski said. "Fuel prices will go back up, and whenthey do people will kick themselves saying, 'Why didn't we build these when fuel was cheaper andshipping was cheaper?' “he said.

(Not everybody wants dam removal, but it won’t matter.)Install fish ladders; no on dam removal Oct 16, 2016, heraldandnews.com

Several months ago a dam removal funding scheme was cooked-up in secret closed-door meetings that included PacifiCorp, tribes and environmentalists. They decided that Pacific Power customers and taxpayers should pay $550 million for dam removal and assume all liability. This whole scheme was just an attempt to shift cost from the dams' owner, PacifiCorp, to the public. Billionaire Warren Buffett owns PacifiCorp — they have no money problems. These dams should not be

removed. They provide clean, cheap, reliable power for 192,000 people. Costly replacement power will hurt all of us.

When the president of Pacific Power visited Klamath Falls in 2008, he bragged about the clean power these dams produce. He said, “The dams produce enough emission-free energy to offset the emissions of 102,000 cars or burning 1.23 million barrels of oil a year.” See: Utility hesitant about dams. The best and cheapest solution is to install fish ladders on the three dams that don’t have them. The J.C. Boyle dam near Keno has a fish ladder. That dam is the newest of the four

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and it puts out more power than the other three combined. Removing the Iron Gate Dam would remove the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery which produces 5 million salmon smolts each year — 17,000 of which return annually as full-grown adults to spawn. Siskiyou County had an 80 percent no vote on dam removal. Let’s do the same in Klamath County. A strong no vote will send a message to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that dam removal should not occur.Howard Paine, Klamath Falls

Water: (Not good news if you live on the coast, or intend to.)Flood Study Finds 'Things Are Going to Get Worse' Scientists say floods will be far more frequent in 80 years By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore, Newser Staff, Oct 12, 2016, newser.com

(NEWSER) – More grim news fromresearchers using computer modelprojections and historical data to predictfuture weather changes. Scientists atRutgers University, Princeton University, andthe Woods Hole Oceanographic Institutionare reporting in the Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sciences that, basedon the accelerated rate of climate change inrecent years, intense floods like the onecaused by Hurricane Sandy will be at leastthree times more likely by the year 2100 asthey are today, and that they could breakparticularly badly against New York City, making it up to 17 times as likely to experience such a flood by the year 2100. "The grand answer is that things are going to get worse by 2100," one researcher says in a press release. "It's just a question of how much worse it will get. There is no happy scenario." Previous research has shown that, using historical patterns in the millennium between 850 and 1850 compared to the late 20th century, there has been a 20-fold increase in the frequency of extreme floods, largely due to rising sea levels. Now researchers report that while historic sea-level rise was largely due to natural events such as gradual land sinking following the Ice Age, therecent rise is due in large part to human-caused climate change and will make superstorms more common. Area residents tells CBS Local that Sandy was "absolutely horrifying" and "devastating,"and the researchers warn that such storms, expected once every 400 years in the year 2000, are likely to jump as high as once every 20 years by the year 2100. (Here's the big worry Hurricane Matthew left in its wake.)

Environment: (Not many of these ugly buggers left.)Pallid Sturgeon on Lower Yellowstone Could Get Bypass Instead of RiverOctober 17. 2016, by Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service – MT, publicnewsservice.org

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GLENDIVE, Mont. – Federal agencies saythe best option for conserving theendangered pallid sturgeon is to provide abypass channel to the Yellowstone IntakeDam. Opponents of the project not onlydisagree, they say that the option is awaste of money. The final EnvironmentalImpact Statement from the Army Corps ofEngineers and Bureau of Reclamation saidthe bypass alternative balances fishrecovery with farmers' irrigation needs. ButBruce Farling, executive director ofMontana Trout Unlimited, said the bypass option is untested. "Basically what they have done is, they have selected an experimental alternative assuming that pallid sturgeon will use a long, constructed, engineered bypass channel around a larger dam,” Farling said. "And there's no science available - zero - that says pallid sturgeon will use a bypass of this sort."

An independent review of the bypass, which would include improvements to the Intake Dam, said the project would cost $57 million. Farling said removing the dam, while costly, is the best option for the sturgeon, and could save money in the long run if the bypass doesn't work. The Intake Dam is located near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. There are only about 125 wild pallid sturgeon remaining in the Upper Missouri River basin. Farling said his organizationand other conservation groups have suggested removing the current river diversion and replacingit with a pumping system to irrigate surrounding farmland. He said it's a tried and true solution. Butthe agencies have already rejected that option. "There have been instances where the Bureau of Reclamation, one of the agencies here, replaced irrigation dams on rivers and replaced them withpumping systems,” Farling said. "So, we weren't asking these guys to create a rocket to Mars." The pallid sturgeon has been in trouble since dams went up on the Missouri River more than 50 years ago, according to Steve Forrest, a senior representative for the Rockies and Plains programat Defenders of Wildlife. And the fish haven't successfully reproduced since. "We know now that those dams have disrupted the way that at least young, larval sturgeon mature. They don't have enough time to grow into swimming young,” Forrest said. "By the time they reach the next reservoir downstream, they sink to the bottom and suffocate and die. So, the clock is ticking." After a review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agencies are allowed to make a final decision no sooner than 30 days after the impact statement is published in the Federal Register. That will happen on Oct. 21.

(Oh ,oh this could mean trouble.)Dam Operator Accused of Killing Thousands of Fish in Maine By SUSAN SHARON • 10/19/16, mainepublic.org

Conservation groups are raising red flagsabout what they say are two significant fishkills in Ellsworth and Brunswick over the pastweek. They say both illustrate how the damowner’s plan for fish passage isn’t working.The groups are also frustrated with what theysay is a lack of response from federal andstate fishery regulators. Dwayne Shaw of theDowneast Salmon Federation says staff andvolunteers first noticed dead alewivesshowing up on the Union River below theLeonard Lake Hydro Dam in Ellsworth abouta week ago. Many appeared to have gottenstruck by the blades of the dam’s turbines. So

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There are only about 125 pallid sturgeon left in the lower Yellowstone River. (USFWS Mountain-Prairie)

Shaw says they then reported the problem to federal and state agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries and the Maine Department of Marine Resources. “We’re notgetting any response from either the agencies or the power company as to what they intend to do to prevent this from continuing,” Shaw says. “And we understand that the same situation is underway down on the Androscoggin.”That fish kill near the Brunswick-Topsham dam is estimated to have killed thousands of out-migrating fish, says Ed Friedman of the group Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. Friedman says he personally went to the site over the weekend and documented and photographed several hundreddead fish himself. His group has long been working to ensure safe fish passage for migrating fish like endangered Atlantic salmon, shad, alewives and eels. But Friedman says fish passage at the site remains inadequate. “The only way for fish to get by there without going through the turbines when there is no spill over the top of the dam is through an 18-inch little down spout pipe located right next to the turbines,” Friedman says. Both dams are operated by Brookfield Energy which has been the subject of at least one similar complaint in the past. A spokesman for the company declined to talk on tape, but in a written statement Brookfield said it is quote — “constantly working to minimize the potential environmental impacts associated with our operations and activities.” Brookfield said it is in communication with Maine regulators to modify operations when needed asa way to avoid fish mortality. Dwayne Shaw disagrees with that assessment. He says Brookfield, which is in the process of relicensing the Ellsworth dam for 30 years, has not taken corrective action to protect alewives and other fish. Calls to the DMR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking comment for this story were not returned by airtime.

Other Stuff: (Too expensive but attractive. Old article –did this one before.)Tree Shaped Wind Turbines to be Installed in Parisalternative-energy-news.info, March 23, 2016

A French company called NewWind is installing tree-shapedwind turbines at the Place de laConcorde in Paris, France. Thecompany’s founder, JérômeMichaud-Larivière came up withthe idea while in a Paris square,when he “saw the leaves tremblewhen there was not a breath ofair.” He hopes the trees can beused to exploit small air currentsflowing along buildings andstreets, and could eventually beinstalled in people’s yards andurban centres.

He is the first to admit theefficiency of the trees is lowcompared to more consistentcurrents higher up, but believes the £23,500 ($28,670) trees are more viable and less intrusive than ‘monstrous’ conventional wind turbines. The 26 foot high trees, which use tiny blades inside the ‘leaves’, could potentially be profitable after a year of wind speeds averaging 7.8 mph. They

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can generate electricity in wind speeds as low as 4.5 mph. Scroll down for more photos and the video.

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iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resourcesissues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed withoutprofit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.