Click the link to read the article on the 8NewsNow.com website (Greg Haas). Here’s an excerpt:
April 12, 2024
Nearly a year ago, the Colorado River was raging through the Grand Canyon, carrying enough water to raise Lake Mead by an astonishing 2½ feet in just five days. The surge that began on April 25, 2023, was part of a “High Flow Experiment” release from Glen Canyon Dam, churning up sediment to rebuild beaches and sandbars through the canyon. But the pipes used to send that gush of water from Lake Powell through Glen Canyon Dam are in trouble, a memo produced by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reveals.
“In summary, at reservoir levels below the minimum power pool (elevation 3,490 ft), there are concerns with relying on the river outlet works as the sole means of sustained water releases from Glen Canyon Dam,” the memo said.
The “river outlet works” is a backup system at Glen Canyon, used infrequently because Reclamation needs to generate as much electricity as possible by sending water through the hydropower penstocks, a much larger set of tubes higher up…A special inspection that happened around last year’s High Flow Experiment found erosion within the four 8-foot pipes of the river outlet works. The evidence of “cavitation” is being described by conservation groups as a new part of the “spectacular water crisis” that demonstrates the magnitude of problems with the dam. Cavitation produces shock waves that are powerful enough to damage steel, according to David Wegner, who worked 20 years as an engineer for Reclamation. He was lead scientist for environmental impact studies of Glen Canyon Dam, and a founding member of the Glen Canyon Institute. Wegner is now a senior staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences Water Science and Technology Board.
