2/5/2016

i

Dams:(What a sight to behold! Preventing flooding downstream.)For 3rd time in Hartwell Dam’s history, all spillways have been openedBy Carla Field, Jan 22, 2016, wyff4.com

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. —TheArmy Corps of Engineers saidFriday, they have opened thespillway gates on Hartwell Dambecause of the high water levelcaused by precipitation from thewinter storm Opening all thespillways is an historic event, happening only twice before in 1964and 2013. Russell Wicke, with theU.S. Army Corps of EngineersSavannah District, said the reservoiris more than 5 feet above itstargeted level and more than 2 feet over the level it reaches when full in the summertime.

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

Some Dam – Hydro News TM

And Other Stuff

1

Quote of Note: “It’s when te tde goes out tat you learn who’s been swimming naked.” - - Warren Bufet

Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Back Issues and Search http://npdp.stanford.edu/Click on Link (Some Dam - Hydro News) Bottom Right - Under Perspectives

“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas JeffersonRon’s wine pick of the week: 2013 Ferrari Carano Pinot Noir "Anderson Valley" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

In addition to the rainfall, privately owned reservoirs upstream of Hartwell Lake have released water accounting for additional inflow into the lake. All 12 spillways will remain open until Monday.Opening the spillways will allow 13,400 cubic feet of water per second to pass through. The Corpsstresses that water is not breaching the dam. The release is to prevent levels from ever getting high enough for that to happen. The public is urged to avoid the area. Those who insist on visitingshould exercise extreme caution when driving or walking in the area. Boaters should avoid all areas immediately downstream of the Hartwell Dam.

(Dam history, harder than riding a bucking bronco.)Taming the Colorado: How dams allow Yuma to flourish By Joyce Lobeck, Special to the Yuma Sun, 1/24/16, yumasun.com Today the Colorado River placidly flows bythe city of Yuma, quiet and well behaved.But that’s a relatively new behavior for theriver with historical records documenting thedestruction it has periodically brought to thedesert Southwest, when swollen withsnowmelt and rain, it would go on arampage.Stories are still told of when it overflowed itsbanks 100 years ago this month and floodedMain Street, destroying most of the buildingsthere.Even more spectacular was the megafloodthat struck in mid-January of 1862,destroying the fledging city of Yuma, covering some areas with 20 feet of water and turning Fort Yuma into an island. Yuma wasn’t the only area impacted that winter of 1861-62 — and it wasn’t even an El Nino year.Atmospheric river storms (bands of water vapor about a mile above sea level) brought heavy snow and torrential rains across a large area of the West, causing massive flooding, death and destruction from Oregon to Mexico and from the California coast inland to what today are the states of Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.Other catastrophic floods have occurred in Yuma over the last century when either the Colorado River or the Gila River — or both — flooded. And scientists have found geologic evidence of period massive paleofloods.

“Thank goodness we have major reservoirs today,” said Tom Davis, manager of Yuma County Water Users Association. “We wouldn’t be here without them. Yuma no longer gets flooded, people could live in the (Yuma) Valley and the area has flourished.”In the late 1800s, settlers first began diverting water from the Colorado River for farming in the Yuma area, but variable and inconsistent flows presented a challenge as well as a danger. That was true as well for other parts of the arid West.And so pressure mounted for the federal government to undertake water storage and irrigation projects. In response, Congress passed the Reclamation At of 1902 with the intent to both “reclaim” arid lands for human use and to encourage settlement of the American West. From 1902 to 1907, Reclamation began about 30 projects in the Western states, among them the YumaProject to develop an irrigation diversion and water delivery system for tens of thousands of acresof rich farmland. Laguna Dam was constructed in 1909 as the first dam on the Colorado River. A check dam to raise the elevation of water for irrigation, however, it was not meant for flood control, Davis explained.Flooding would continue to be an issue in Yuma, as seen with the catastrophic floods of 1905, 1912, 1916 and 1921. “That all stopped with Hoover Dam,” Davis said. Construction of the dam was authorized by the Boulder Canyon Act of 1928 to control floods, provide irrigation water and produce hydroelectric power. Hoover Dam was completed in 1936. It impounds Lake Mead, the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu2

largest reservoir by volume in the United States with a water storage capacity of 26.12 million acre-feet.The Boulder Canyon Act also authorized the construction of Imperial Dam about 20 miles north ofYuma that serves to divert Colorado River water to the All American Canal, Coachella Canal, the Yuma Project and the Gila Gravity Canal.

Other water management structures on the Colorado River between Hoover Dam and Yuma include Davis Dam and its reservoir, Lake Mohave; Parker Dam, from which water is pumped west to Los Angeles and east through the Central Arizona Canal to Phoenix, and its reservoir, Lake Havasu; a couple of other smaller diversion dams; and Senator Wash Dam near Yuma, which helps manage water deliveries for this area. Below Yuma, Morelos Dam delivers water to the Mexicali Valley in Mexico. Subsequently, Glen Canyon Dam was built upriver from Hoover Dam. Opened in 1963, its reservoir, Lake Powell, can store up to 24.3 million acre-feet of water.Three years after Powell filled, there was an unusually long-lasting winter — an El Nino year — in 1983. With Lake Mead also filled to capacity, the Lower Colorado River area once again was subject to flooding with spring snowmelt and rain. Thanks to the “hardened” levee, Yuma was spared much damage. Since it takes three days for releases from Hoover Dam to reach Yuma, people here knew days in advance just when to brace for the flood’s arrival. “At the time the reservoirs were full,” observed Charles Flynn, executive director of the city’s riverfront redevelopment efforts.

Now after 16 years of drought, the reservoirs are half full. That water is still flowing to farmland and cities is a tribute to the development by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) of the Colorado River’s water storage and management system. “The dams and reservoirs are doing what they were designed to do … storage and our ability to deliver water,” said Doug Hendrix, spokesman for USBR, the federal agency charged with managing the river. “We’re still able to deliver with no shortage being declared despite 16 years of drought. The system was built to handle times of shortages and times of plenty. There are levees to protect cities and we have the capability to move water quickly. The system was designed with flexibility.” However, Reclamation’s ability to move quickly to prevent flooding seems like an unlikely scenario for years to come, given the current status of Powell and Mead. The situation could change quickly, Hendrix acknowledged. But there is a long ways to go before the river’s system would be full onceagain, and there’s been only five years of average or above-average conditions in the last 16 years. That has Davis looking longingly at the current flows of the Mississippi River. At the rate that river is flowing, it would take only one week to completely top off Lake Mead and Lake Powellto their maximum capacities, he said.“One week.”

(Not paying attention to the sensors may lead to criminal actions. Now they’re going to really pay. Wonder what the Company will have to say about this?)Samarco sensors gave warnings months before Brazil dam burst: reports25 Jan 2016, abc.net.au

Brazilian iron ore miner Samarco Minerals SA received serious danger warnings from ground sensors in 2014 and 2015, months before a deadly and environmentally destructive burst of a tailings dam, according to local media. The alerts, from probes driven deep into the dam's structure to detect ground moisture and stability, reached as high as "emergency" levels, reportedcurrent affairs show Fantastico, citing Samarco-commissioned engineering studies provided to prosecutors investigating the case. The dam burst is considered by many to be the worst environmental disaster in Brazil's history. Samarco, a 50-50 joint venture between Brazil's Vale SA and Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd, is in talks with Brazilian federal and state prosecutors and environmental agencies to settle a $US5 billion public lawsuit.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu3

Fantastico said the studies did not includesensor data from areas critical to theintegrity of recent enlargements to thedam, in a sign of scant regard for thesensor data, according to a prosecutorinterviewed by the television program."It is an extremely grave omission thatcompromised the operational security ofthe dam," Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Pintosaid about the sensor data. He isinvestigating the accident for Brazil's MinasGerais state. He said the dam'senlargement "compromised it in a way thatwas decisive to its rupture". The Novemberaccident sent a tsunami of mud throughhundreds of kilometres of valleys andrivers, killing 17 people, wiping out smalltowns, polluting drinking water for tens ofthousands and destroying wildlife from Brazil's Minas Gerais highlands to the Atlantic Ocean.

A Samarco lawyer told Fantastico the company followed all dam safety and environmental laws ineffect and that the area of the dam where sensor data was missing was the most secure part of the structure. In response to Fantastico's reporting on the missing data, the company that provided the sensor data to Samarco said it was not required to supply data to the Government that was within normal parameters. Vale, Samarco and BHP did not immediately respond to requests for comment. BHP has previously said they will release the findings of an external investigation into the dam burst by New York-based law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton when it is completed.

(They’re the only ones that showed up.)Public at Arcata meeting unified in desire for Klamath dam removalBy Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard, 01/25/16, | times-standard.com

Of the over 30 public speakers at theCalifornia Water Resources ControlBoard scoping meeting at the ArcataD Street Community Center onMonday evening, every one called forthe board to recommend removal offour hydroelectric dams on theKlamath River when drafting itsenvironmental review for PacifiCorp’sClean Water Act permit application. Though coming from differentbackgrounds, professions, andcultures, the nearly 30 speakers atthe California Water Resource’sControl Board meeting in Arcata onMonday evening were all unified by one goal: the removal of four Klamath River dams.“Allowing Klamath salmon to go extinct because these four dams were allowed to stand would represent one of the clearest and most egregious irretrievable commitments in the history of environmental analysis, in my opinion,” Klamath Riverkeeper Project Manager Erica Terence said, speaking as a private citizen.

The State Water Board’s Monday scoping meeting at the D Street Community Center was held to gain input from the public as it prepares its environmental review of PacifiCorp’s Klamath

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu4

The November accident sent a tsunami of mud through hundreds of kilometres of valleys and rivers, wiping out smalltowns (ABC News: Ben Knight, file photo)

Hydroelectric Project, which includes four Klamath River dams — Copco 1, Copco 2, Iron Gate and J.C. Boyle — once slated for removal by now failed Klamath Basin agreements. PacifiCorp is seeking to obtain a Clean Water Act permit from the state as part of a larger dam relicensing effort at the federal level through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The project has notbeen relicensed since 1956. Based in Portland and a subsidiary of American businessman Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy, PacifiCorp had been undergoing the relicensing process for several years until delaying it after signing on to the first of the three Klamath Basin agreements, the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA). The KHSA called for the removal of the four PacifiCorp dams by 2020 in exchange for limiting PacifiCorp’s liability to about$200 million. The two other agreements — the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement — would have sought to resolve water rights issues between tribes and irrigators, provide environmental protections and ensure water certainty for Klamath Basin agriculture.

However, after Congress failed to pass the agreements by Jan. 1 this year, PacifiCorp resumed its relicensing process. Having gone through much of the relicensing process already, the last major hurdles the company faces are obtaining Clean Water Act permits through the California Water Resources Control Board and from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.The California Water Board was in Arcata on Monday for a scoping meeting to hear from the public and stakeholders as it prepares its environmental impact report for the dam’s Clean Water Act permit. From tribal members to fishermen to environmentalists to politicians, every public speaker that attended the meeting stated the only way to protect water quality and resources as prescribed under the California Clean Water Act was through full removal of the four dams.California 2nd District Congressman Jared Huffman’s District Representative John Driscoll read a statement from Huffman, which acknowledged that the Klamath Basin agreements are now “dead” and called upon the State Water Board to demand dam removal. “Nothing short of an aggressive approach will do here,” Huffman wrote in his statement. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission evaluated six alternative actions in its own environmental review of the dams, ranging from leaving the dams as is or removing the four hydroelectric dams altogether. There were also alternatives that kept the dams in place, but with changes. PacifiCorp’s own proposal would include installation of fish ladders, oxygenation of Iron Gate Reservoir, flow alterations, and gravel replacement among nearly 40 other changes. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s environmental review of the dams shows that the company would lose more than $20 million per year if they reopened the dams with some of these conditions, but recommended the dams stay in place.

Yurok Senior Fisheries Biologist Mike Belchik said the impacts the dams have on the river — including temperature, flow, nutrients and sediment — are having serious consequences on downstream salmonids, especially with disease and parasitic outbreaks like ich. Over 90 percent of diseased juvenile salmon the tribe surveyed in the river last year succumbed to their illness, Belchik said. Belchik said that the alternative options don’t go far enough to address these impacts and that there is no way to mitigate them except through full dam removal. “There is not enough cold water in the reservoir,” he said, referring to Iron Gate. Stillwater Sciences senior fish biologist Joshua Strange said the reservoirs behind the dams also affect spawning salmon upstream migration patterns in the river, with the fish now pausing their migration for about a week at the start of the fall season when they would normally still be moving. Strange said this is occurring because the reservoir water is warmed up as it sits behind dams like Iron Gate. Upon release downstream, the reservoir water is warmer than it normally would be during the start of fall, and the fish react by waiting for the cooler waters. “This is a big contributor in my mind as to why ich outbreak has occurred in the lower Klamath River,” he said. “It’s the only place this disease has ever occurred in a migrating salmon population. Otherwise, it only occurs when fish are stationary.”

Cultural impacts were also a major talking point, with several local tribal members explaining how the conditions of the river have made cultural ceremonies or activities difficult or impossible. Yurok tribal member and Cultural Resources Manager Rosie Clayburn said that part of praying is

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu5

actually interacting with the water, but that people are now walking out of the water with rashes from irritants like algae. “We don’t even have the water flow to do that,” she said. “We can’t even put a boat in to go down. We actually have to request water releases to have that done.”The State Water Board is set to hold another scoping meeting in Orleans this morning from 10 a.m. to noon at the Karuk Tribe Community Room. Written comments on the State Water Board’s environmental impact review preparations are due by 5 p.m. on Jan. 29.

(And, then there’s the other side.)Opposition to dam removal voiced By LACEY JARRELL H&N Staff Reporter, Jan 28, 2016, heraldandnews.com

Nearly everyone who spoke at aTuesday California Water Boardmeeting in Yreka said he or she isagainst removing four dams from theKlamath River. The Yreka meeting wasthe last in a series of four meetings heldby the board to provide a forum for thepublic to air their feelings about how theKlamath River is managed and whetheror not the dams — owned PacifiCorp,the parent company of Pacific Power —should be certified by the Clean WaterAct and allowed by federal regulation tocontinue operating for another 50 years.The other scoping meetings were heldin Sacramento, Arcata and Orleans.More than 100 people attended the Yreka meeting. According to Parker Thayler, a California Water Board environmental scientist, comments provided at the meeting, and during the current open public comment period, will be used to inform the State Water Board’s actions on the Klamath Hydroelectric Project. After the comment period closes, the board will review information submitted by the public and other sources to draft an environmental impact report. Once the draft is released, another public comment period will open. According to Thayler, the state will then consider all comments received and issue a final environmental impact report and take an action on the project’s recertification.

Water assumptionsSiskiyou County Supervisor Grace Bennett kicked off the meeting, saying that many people mistakenly believe that if the Klamath River dams are removed, clean, clear, cold water will suddenly appear. “This is not the case. The water that comes from Oregon to California is a problem. This water is a source of much pollution. Upper Klamath Lake is shallow, warm in the summer, and has many nutrients — phosphorous and organic matter — in it,” she said.Rex Cozzalio said four generations of his family have lived directly below where Iron Gate Dam now sits. The dam is northeast of Yreka. “I have personally seen the overwhelming benefits thosefacilities have provided to our river reach,” Cozzalio said. Richard Gierak noted that the Klamath River is designated as a recreational river within the National Wild & Scenic Rivers System. Gierak said he believes destruction of Iron Gate Dam, or any other Klamath dams, would change the river extensively, directly violating of the federal scenic rivers act. Thomas Joseph said if the dams can’t comply with federal or state regulation, they need to be removed from the river.“It’s simple and it’s easy. (The dams) are outdated, they need to be redone or they need to be taken down,” Joseph said. Robert Davis after he moved to the Yreka area more than 30 years ago he asked longtime residents how Iron Gate Dam was built.

'Dropped to a trickle'“When I asked how they built the pilings for the dam, they laughed because before the dams, the river dropped to a trickle you could step over,” Davis said. John Livingston, of Redding, asked the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu6

board to set measurable goals for fish management. “I would encourage the analysis to try to develop some mitigation measures or some parameters that are measurable, instead of everyonesaying it worked or it didn’t work,” Livingston said. Siskiyou County Supervisor Brandon Criss, noted that water from Copco Lake was used to save homes in 2001, when a fire broke out near the lake. “Do not take this fire protection tool the dams provide,” he said.

$10 billion bondMark Baird, vice chair of Scott Valley Protect our Water, said his suggestion is for the parties responsible for dam removal is to establish a $10 billion bond “so the lives and property (ruined) with the removal of these dams can be paid for after the fact.” “If you’re not going to pay for it, that’s not an experiment we want to come to the conclusion of,” Baird said. Konrad Fisher, executive director of Klamath Riverkeeper, said he’ll argue that most of the opposition to dam removal is rooted in ideology, not science. “I live on the Klamath River, and I can assure you that the Clean Water Act beneficial uses are not being protected right now, and have not been protected in recent years,” Fisher said. Sarah Schaefer, of Yreka, said she supports removing all four dams. “I don’t see anybody getting rich off these issues. I’ve never heard anybody say ‘I wantthe dams to come out because I want to get rich,’ ” Schaefer said.

(Getting bigger.)New dam at Folsom Lake faces big testEngineers begin filling water behind gatesJan 27, 2016, kcra.com At 7 a.m., crews started pumpingwater from the main body of thelake, over a temporary earthendam and into a channel upstreamthat had been kept dry duringconstruction. Soon, water wascreeping up the backside of theconcrete dam and steel gates thatare as tall as the Statue ofLiberty. "We were all extremelyexcited, seeing a lot of hard workand sacrifice, especially from ourcraft to get this work done," saidLuis Paiz, of Kiewit Construction,the contractor hired for the latestphase of the eight-year project. The U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers designed the dam, andits experts were at the site toclosely monitor the filling. "They're just looking for, I guess,any type of leakage or seepage that's going through the bulkhead gates themselves or the controlstructure," said Katie Charan, the project manager for Army Corps of Engineers. "And, there hasn't been any excessive leak or anything that we've noticed through the control structure. So, it's performing as intended," she said. Engineers had originally scheduled this phase of the projectfor early next month. However last week, a leak in the temporary construction dam, also known asa cofferdam, forced workers to scramble to higher ground. Eventually, they were able to patch theleak and rescue their equipment. Charan said they then realized they were ready to move on to the next step.After the water in the channel near the dam reaches the level of the main lake, crews will spend several months dredging out the construction dam. The new auxiliary dam is intended to fix a

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu7

Water is now being held back by the new auxiliary dam (in red). Crews will soon begin removing the temporary construction dam (in yellow). Bythe end of the year, work will be complete on the downstream chute (in green.)

potentially fatal flaw in Folsom Dam. As originally designed, Folsom Lake can sometimes rise too fast for operators to handle. If the lake ever overflowed, the earthen berms that make up most of the dam could crumble and cause catastrophic flooding through the Sacramento region.The new gates are positioned about 50 feet lower in elevation than the old ones, which will allow operators more options. When big storms approach, operators will be able to release more water sooner and faster and thereby make more room for runoff in Folsom Lake. "That's the whole intent, that we'll be able to use these gates, because they're 50 feet lower in elevation than the main dam, when we see those large storm events roll in," Charan said. Even though the backside of the dam is now wet and the gates operational, they will not be used for at least another year. Crews still must complete the concrete lining of a 3,000-foot long chute that will carry water from the new dam and dump it into the lower American River.

(A sad tale too often told.)Danville Engineer: White Mill Dam Needs to Go, Safety Threat to PublicBy Valerie Bragg, January 27th 2016, wset.com Danville, Va. — Danville'sengineering department saysthe dam by the White Millneeds to go, because it's notsafe. Tammy McKinneyagrees. She sees her grandsonevery day, but he's only apicture. Kolton Karnes, 5, diedfive years ago when he gotpulled under at the dam nearDan Daniel Park. "The holidaysare no longer the same,"Mckinney said. "Familyportraits are no longer thesame. Nothing is the same anymore because you are missing part of your family."More than a year later, the dam was removed. Now, city workers want the one by the White Mill gone, too. "If it serves no purpose, why leave the dams for another family to have to suffer through a tragedy like ours did," McKinney said.

Katya Lapin and her daughter use the Riverwalk and pass by this sign every day. Lapin believes removing the dam could make it a safer journey for little Steffie. "I think having that option would allow more kids to play outside where they are going to end up if we let them run," Lapin said.Kolton wanted to rescue people; Firefighting was his dream. He may be gone, but his grandma told ABC 13 he's still making dreams come true. "How many people has he rescued by having thedam removed?" McKinney said. "If he's a part of this, if this has prompted the city to say, 'We've lost a child. We've lost people in one dam, we've removed that.' These dams serve no purpose. So why not remove those? He's rescuing people and that's what he loved to do." The project would cost roughly $100,000. If council approves, the dam is expected to be removed by August of 2016.

(It’s good to learn from past occurrences.)HISTORIC FLOOD EXHIBIT OPENING Exhibit marking centennial of disaster in South Bay set for Chula Vista libraryBY ALLISON SAMPITE-MONTECALVO, 1/25/2016, sduniontribune.com

CHULA VISTA - At 5:05 p.m., Jan. 27, 1916, the worst natural disaster in the history of the South Bay struck. The Lower Otay Dam gave way. A torrent of water flooded the Otay, Sweetwater and Tijuana river valleys, wiping out the town of Otay, the Chula Vista Salt Works and hundreds of farms. Eleven Japanese farmers living below the dam were killed. To commemorate the great flood of 1916, an exhibit by the South Bay Historical Society will open at the Chula Vista Civic

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu8

Center Library on Wednesday,100 years to the day of thecatastrophe. “Our exhibit willtell the stories of heroism andhardship, of the manyindividual ways peopleresponded to this cataclysmicevent,” said StevenSchoenherr, the HistoricalSociety’s president.\ Thedisplay is expected to stay upfor at least the first half of theyear, Schoenherr said. The firstsection of the exhibit willfeature the historical context of 1916 and the work of Charles “Rainmaker” Hatfield.The San Diego City Council had hired Hatfield to produce rain. He built platforms near the MorenaReservoir to release his secret mixture of•Bridges destroyed, no water for 3 weeks FROM B1 chemicals into the air around Jan. 1, 1916. OnJan. 5, rain began. It came down in torrents for the remainder of the month. More rain fell than ever recorded for a two-week period in the South Bay, according to the Historical Society. The rain filled the Sweetwater Reservoir until abutments burst, unleashing a tsunami-type wall of water into the valley. The second part of the exhibit will show the devastation caused by the flood.River canyons were flooded and bridges destroyed, along with water pipelines and the railroad.There was no drinking water in the South Bay for three weeks. The third part of the exhibit will show recovery efforts. The Navy sent a relief expedition under Lt. Willis W. Bradley Jr.The Lower Otay Dam was rebuilt, and more dams were added to watersheds, including Barrett in 1922, Rodriguez in 1936, Judson in 1937 and Loveland in 1945. “We can learn from these stories,” Schoenherr said. “If a sudden, natural catastrophe struck our city today, would we become a ‘Paul Revere’ and go out to warn and help people? Or would we wait for the danger to pass, and then pick up for ourselves the belongings lost by others?”

(If this happens the results are too horrible to contemplate.)U.S. general warns of possible "catastrophic" dam collapse in IraqAP January 28, 2016, cbsnews.com BAGHDAD -- The top U.S. general inIraq warned Thursday of the potentialcollapse of Mosul Dam in thecountry's north, saying such an eventcould prove "catastrophic." The U.S.-led coalition is still determining thelikelihood the hydroelectric damcould collapse but has developed acontingency plan alongside the Iraqigovernment, said U.S. Army Lt. Gen.Sean MacFarland. Built in the early1980s, the dam is made largely ofearth and situated on soft mineralfoundations, which are easily dissolved by water. A report in 2006 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called it "the most dangerous dam in the world" because of its propensity to erode. Since the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extended its territory across Iraq in summer 2014, maintenance teams have at times struggled to gain access to the site. ISIS seized the dam in Julyof that year, but Iraqi forces and Kurdish fighters, with coalition air support, took it back within weeks. Situated on the Tigris River, the dam is the largest in Iraq and the fourth-largest in the

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu9

Middle East. It once supplied electricity and water to much of the country, but now only operates at partial capacity. The coalition and Iraqi forces have drafted plans to move civilians to safety should the dam collapse, MacFarland said, warning that "when it goes, it's going to go fast, and that's bad." Speaking to The Associated Press by phone, Riyadh Izeddin, the director general of the dam, said he had not been informed by the U.S. about any such contingency plan."The Americans didn't tell us anything," he said, countering the coalition's assessment that the structure is in serious danger. "There is nothing to be afraid of. There is nothing seriously wrong with the dam," Izeddin said. The 2006 report by the corps said the dam's collapse would put Mosul - Iraq's second-largest city - under 65 feet of water and kill an estimated half a million people. "If this dam was in the United States, we would have drained the lake behind it," MacFarland said.

Hydro: (Renewable energy plus!)Huge Hydropower Plant to Harness Seawater and Solar Power in South America’s Driest DesertBy Cole Mellino | January 22, 2016 | ecowatch.com

Lodged between the AndesMountains and the Pacific Oceanis the Atacama Desert in Chile—the driest non-polar desert in theworld.It certainly isn’t a location whereyou’d expect to find ahydropower plant, but Valhalla, aChilean company, plans to buildEspejo de Tarapaca (TarapacaMirror), a 300-megawatt solarand hydropower plant.

During the day, the plant will usesolar power to move seawater upa tunnel to the top of a mountain,where the water will be stored in a natural reservoir, explained FastCoExist. At night, the water will be released back down, generating power as it falls. This way, the plant can generate power day and night. Pumped storage hydropower plants are not a new concept, but utilizing solar power to pump the water is. “You need to be able to provide power when it’s needed, so it’s readily available and dispatchable,” Francisco Torrealba, co-founder of Valhalla, told FastCoExist.“If on a particular day you don’t have wind and can’t provide energy at a peak time, that would be a huge crisis. That’s why our concept becomes relevant.”

The Chilean coast is an ideal location for this type of project. “Chile has the best conditions in the world for solar plants—roughly 15 percent better than Arizona,” Torrealba said. “It’s really stunning. But Chile also has the best conditions in the world for pump storage running with seawater. That means we can produce flat, steady power at a very reasonable price.” The company won’t have to construct dams, either. “We found these natural depressions that we believe were very ancient lakes, but obviously there is nothing there now, it is a desert, that will allow us to store water,” the company’s co-founder and chief executive Juan Andres Camus told Reuters.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu10

Valhalla claims Chile’s unique coastal geography make it an ideal location for a solar and hydropower plant.

And it’s currently cost-competitive with coal. “In Chile, we don’t have any subsidies for renewables, so we need to be able to compete straight with coal generation,” Torrealba explained. “It’s a very Darwinian world—you need to be able to play against coal. Our cost structure is at the price of coal right now.” Valhalla is set to begin construction on the plant in the second half of 2016. They’re still in the process of securing funding for the venture, but they estimate they will be supplying electricity to utilities by 2020. They believe the Chilean coastline

has the potential to supply power for all of South America. “The region of Tarapaca can be a leader in solar energy,” Torrealba told Tunneling Journal. “And Chile can become an energy superpower in the world.” “We could completely replace all the generation in South America,” he told FastCoExist. “You could very easily envision a South America in 20-25 years which has an integrated grid all throughout the continent, in which Chile could be providing very cheap, clean electricity with this combination of pump storage and solar power.”

(Every bit helps.)Dams along Muskingum River to be converted to hydropowerBy Kate Snyder, Reporter, January 23, 2016, zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

ZANESVILLE, Ohio - Within the next two years,construction will begin to convert six dams alongthe Muskingum River, including three inMuskingum and Morgan counties, to hydropower.Among the six dams included in the project arePhilo, Rokeby and Malta. Each site will provide100 to 150 jobs during construction and, whenconstruction is completed, an average of fourmegawatts of power, which can power more than2,000 homes. In total, the project to convert the sixdams will cost about $118 million. The project isheaded up by Rye Development, manager for FFPNew Hydro, which is owned by US RenewablesGroup, an investment firm focused on renewableenergy. Don Lauzon, vice president of regulatory affairs with Rye, said the project is still in early

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu11

The water will be pumped up to a natural reservoir at the top of a mountain using solar power during the day. Then at night, the water will be released back down, generating power as it falls. Photo credit: Valhalla

stages. Licensing is complete, but the company hasn't yet secured a lease with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

After the lease is secured, the engineering analysis and design can be finalized and construction will begin. Construction will last 18 months to two years, he said. To convert the dams to hydropower, Lauzon said power stations will be constructed to house turbines, but the stations will be low-profile, meaning the turbines will be as obscured from view as possible. These systems, once built, can last from 50 to 75 years. "Hydro provides a baseload power going into the grid all of the time," Lauzon said. One megawatt of power provided by each site can power 500 to 600 homes, and the sites will provide anywhere from three to five megawatts of power. By converting the dams to hydropower, Lauzon said there will be no need for selling coal or burning coal, and there won't be any hydraulic fracturing. The conversion is simply taking advantage of the water already running over the dams, he said. During construction, jobs will be culled from local contractors and providers, depending on what kind of labor is available in each community, Lauzon said. For example, if there is a way to use concrete from a local quarry or company, then there would be no reason to ship concrete in from anywhere else. "We're not going to take concrete and materials from out of state," he said. Lauzon said Rye was also working with the local chambers of commerce in the communities where the projects will be located to secure as many jobs for local residents as possible.

(An early development of power at a lock and dam.)Hydropower Repairs Planned at Racine Locks and Damhuntingtonnews.net, January 27, 2016

Edited from a Press Release

HUNTINGTON, W. Va. - American ElectricPower (AEP) has reported an issue with oneof their sheet pile cells located at the RacineLocks and Dam hydropower facility on theOhio River at mile 237.5. AEP is developingplans for interim and permanent repairs toensure the cell's stability, and AEP'scontractor is on site to perform repair work.There may be intermittent impacts tonavigation in order to undertake thesenecessary repairs. Staff from AEP, theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission(FERC) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have visited the site to evaluate the cell and will continue monitoring until all repairs are accomplished by AEP. The hydroelectric plant sits on the edge of the river, opposite locks built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for navigation purposes.

(This will take forever because there are those who want the dam removed.)Ellsworth dam owner files for new licenseJanuary 27, 2016 by Stephen Rappaport on Waterfront, ellsworthamerican.com

ELLSWORTH — Black Bear Hydro Partners LLC, owner of the Ellsworth hydropower dam that forms Leonard Lake on the Union River, has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new license to continue the dam’s hydroelectric generating operations.The company filed the application last Dec. 30. The current dam license, granted in 1987, became effective on Jan. 1, 1988, and expires Dec. 31, 2017.

The filing comes as no surprise. Black Bear filed a Notice of Intent and Pre-Application Document for relicensing the dam in October 2012. In April 2013, the company filed plans for a proposed

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu12

study of the dam’s environmentalimpacts. The proposal was revised inAugust of that year to deal withconcerns expressed by state andfederal regulatory agencies such asthe Department of Marine Resourcesand the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serviceand conservation groups such as theDowneast Salmon Federation, amongothers. FERC approved the proposedstudy plan in September 2013. A yearlater, Black Bear filed a preliminaryreport of the results of its studies.Late last summer, the company filedan “updated study report” thataddressed, in part, responses and claimed inadequacies in the original report raised by the various interested government agencies and other stakeholders. As part of the ongoing process, some of the studies will continue this year, with reports due by the end of 2016. Among them are studies of: the downstream passage of Atlantic salmon smolt, to be done in the spring; downstream passage of adult eels, to be done in the fall; and a Union River tributary access studyfor Graham Lake and Leonard Lake, to be done during the summer and fall.

The relicensing process has faced a number of complications. State and federal fisheries agencies and conservation groups have expressed concerns about the dam’s impact on the outmigration of federally endangered Atlantic salmon smolt from above the dam into the Union River. There is also concern about the transport of alewives from below the dam into the lakes in numbers sufficient to maintain a healthy population of the bait and forage fish. There have also been several complaints that significant numbers of alewives and adult eels are killed by being drawn through the dam’s power-generating turbines on their way downstream. The four units contained in the powerhouse at the eastern end of the dam have a total FERC-authorized capacity of 8.9 megawatts and, according to Black Bear, generate an average of 30,511 megawatt hours annually. While FERC has required that Black Bear address several reported fishkills, in December the agency ruled that the kill that occurred around the beginning of October — more or less coincident with the unusually heavy rainfall from the Hurricane Joaquin weather system — could not be blamed on the dam operator and did not violate the Comprehensive Fishery Management Plan under which it operates. It isn’t only conservationists and fisheries managers who have concerns about Black Bear’s relicensing application. Owners of shoreland parcels on the two lakes above the dam say that the fluctuating water levels, especially in Graham Lake, have a serious impact on their property.

According to the application, Lake Leonard has a surface area of 90 acres at its normal maximumelevation of 66.7 feet and a length of one mile. Water levels in Lake Leonard vary between 65.7 feet and 66.7 feet over the course of the year. Graham Lake has a normal maximum surface areaof approximately 10,000 acres and a maximum length of approximately 10 miles. Annual water levels in Graham Lake fluctuate between 93.4 feet and 104.2 feet, depending, in part, on the power generation requirements of the dam. According to Black Bear, drawdown of Graham Lake in the summer and fall, and more extensively at the beginning of the year, provides “significant” flood control benefits. “Drawdown of Graham Lake also can provide important flow augmentation during dry periods so that minimum flows can be maintained in the Union River below Graham Lake Dam,” the application says.

Not everyone sees it that way. “The owners of the Lake Leonard and Graham Lake dams need to clean up their act,” Ed Damm of Bar Harbor wrote in a recent email. Damm and his wife own property off North Street on the eastern shore of Graham Lake. According to Damm, “Terns can no longer nest on their favorite spots because long-term high spring water floods their nesting

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu13

area.” And it isn’t a problem just for the birds. High water levels after spring ice-out, Damm said, are causing rapid erosion all along the lake shore and are “even starting to undercut Route 179.”Black Bear has a long way to go before FERC issues a new license. According to a schedule published in the Federal Register, the target for a determination that the application has been accepted and that the project is ready for an environmental assessment is February 2017, with recommendations on fish passage issues and other matters due two months later. Assuming that schedule is met, FERC will issue its environmental assessment of the project in October 2017, with comments due the following month. FERC would issue its modified terms and conditions for the license in January 2018. Interested parties can find Black Bear’s final application online at www.ferc.gov and using the “eLibrary” link, then entering “2727” in the docket number field.

Environment: (Pesky and stubborn rascals.)Corps officials stumped as black vultures return to damBy Harrison Keegan, Baxter Bulletin, January 22, 2016, baxterbulletin.com

More than three years after they firstappeared in droves at the Bull Shoals Dam,black vultures are still causing big problems,according to local officials. Bruce Caldwell,with the U.S. Army Corps of EngineersMountain Home Project Office, said theCorps has tried several strategies —including shooting some of the vultures —but the birds are still sticking around. So,what's next? "We're about to the end of thelist," Caldwell said. "We'll keep pluggingaway and educate them that there are saferplaces to be than on our infrastructure." Theblack vultures have been migrating tonorthern Arkansas the last few wintersbefore leaving again in the spring, and the Bull Shoals Dam has been a popular hangout spot for the aggressive migratory birds — much to the chagrin of Corps employees. Caldwell was hoping the black vultures wouldn't come back to the dam this winter, and it looked like he might be in luckwhen the birds didn't show up in early October. But a few weeks later, they started pouring in. Now, Caldwell said, there are close to a thousand black vultures on and around the dam on somedays.

Unlike turkey vultures, which are common in the Ozarks, black vultures are much less skittish around humans and they travel in larger groups, according to Caldwell. The black vultures peck and claw at pliable materials on the dam, beat up parked cars, damage roofs and litter walkways with their droppings. Officials say the vultures have caused more than $100,000 worth of damage at the Bull Shoals Dam since late 2012. Over the last few years, the Corps has tried several strategies to shoo the birds away, including pyrotechnics, chemical applications, a propane scare cannon, bird spikes and dead vulture effigies. This past year, the Corps took drastic measures by obtaining a federal permit and bringing in wildlife officers from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to shoot some of the vultures, which are a protected species. The purpose of killing some vultures, according to Corps officials, is to send a message. "They don't associate pyrotechnics with danger," Caldwell said. "What we have to do is educate them that those loud noises have consequences. “We're not trying to eradicate them, we're simply trying to educate them.” Bruce Caldwell, natural resource biologist, Army Corps of Engineers Officers have killed

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu14

about 12 vultures so far at the dam, but the new strategy doesn't appear to be making much of a lasting impact just yet, according to Corps spokesperson Laurie Driver.

(If they can sue about this, what’s going to happen in Brazil? What happened in the previous 113 years?)Lawsuit Charges Dam Owners With Killing Endangered Puyallup River Chinook and SteelheadICTMN Staff, 1/25/16, indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Fearful of the potential for harm to salmon and trout,conservation groups have gone to court to getElectron Hydro LLC to change practices that theysay are killing the endangered fish in the PuyallupRiver in Washington State. The groups, representedby the Western Environmental Law Center, said the113-year-old dam’s new owners are not takingmeasures to protect Puget Sound Chinook salmon,steelhead and bull trout, all on the EndangeredSpecies List, from the fallout of the dam’soperations. “Federal agencies acknowledge that theElectron project kills and harms EndangeredChinook salmon and steelhead,” the WesternEnvironmental Law Center said in a statement when it filed the suit on January 12. “But Electron Dam’s new owner is using it to generate revenue while ignoring its responsibility to comply with the Endangered Species Act and protect these species.”

According to the law center, the dam works by diverting water from the Puyallup River into a pool that traps the fish, leaving them vulnerable to predation and turbidity. If they make it through that, they risk being “destroyed in powerhouse turbines and penstocks,” the center said. A trap-and-haul apparatus designed to grab the fish before they meet this fate does not always catch them, and some die during the capture attempt, the law center said. Further, Electron Hydro does not have a federal permit to kill the threatened fish, the complaint alleges. Electron Hydro did not issue a statement about the lawsuit, but it does highlight its fish-passage-enhancement program on the company website. “Across the Puget Sound region, taxpayers are funding efforts to restore salmon runs. Citizens and businesses are doing their part. It’s simply not fair that the owners of Electron Dam are killing so many fish and haven’t made an effort to try and protect them,” said Michael Garrity, director of the Rivers of Puget Sound and the Columbia Basin program for American Rivers, in a statement from the Western Environmental Law Center. “It’s common sense that an energy facility needs a permit and a plan to address its impact on the environment. We’re asking for a hard look into how the operations of this 113-year-old dam can be made.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu15

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.