Lower American R coming down a little - 1/5/2017

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Project: Nimbus Dam

Please make the following release changes to the American River:

Date Time From (cfs) To (cfs)

01/04/2017 1700 3,000 2,900
01/04/2017 1800 2,900 2,800
01/04/2017 1900 2,800 2,700
01/04/2017 2000 2,700 2,600
01/04/2017 2100 2,600 2,500

01/05/2017 1700 2,500 2,400
01/05/2017 1800 2,400 2,300
01/05/2017 1900 2,300 2,200
01/05/2017 2000 2,200 2,100
01/05/2017 2100 2,100 2,000

01/06/2017 1700 2,000 1,900
01/06/2017 1800 1,900 1,800
01/06/2017 1900 1,800 1,700
01/06/2017 2000 1,700 1,600
01/06/2017 2100 1,600 1,500

01/07/2017 1700 1,500 1,450
01/07/2017 1800 1,450 1,400
01/07/2017 1900 1,400 1,350
01/07/2017 2000 1,350 1,300
01/07/2017 2100 1,300 1,250

Comment: Storage management

Issued by: Peggy Manza

[Sheepdog8404]

Perfect! Thanks for updating all of us with the flow changes, Bill!

[Mark Kranhold]

1,250 cfs perfect timing for steelhead for the snaggers , red rappers and bobber spotters to come out full force! Wish they kept more water in up above to have a flow of 2,500 down below!

[stefanoflo]

again Mismanagement with all that release, you would think that they would save a little bit more so that can keep it at 2000cfs than what's coming out now which soon will be at 1200cfs. Sad sad, sad!!!

[mogaru]

again Mismanagement with all that release, you would think that they would save a little bit more so that can keep it at 2000cfs than what's coming out now which soon will be at 1200cfs. Sad sad, sad!!!

They flooded us with water releases to prevent flooding...........or they could have release less water over a longer period of time. Ahh, the old excuse the law that prevents them from storing over 60 % of water this time of the year. By the way the salmon eggs must be on the way to the pacific ocean.........and next summer will be asked to let the lawn die because Folsom lake is running dangerously low.

[JasonB]

No doubt there's BIG issues with water management, and the politics that go with it. On the other hand, regardless of such issues I really don't see that they really can (or should) be holding much back this time of year. It would be a huge gamble to allow the reservoir to fill, if/when a big warm storm comes through; which does happen. The American river drains a big area, and this last storm front that came through wasn't as severe as it could be with a bit more snow in the mountains but we still had substantial inflow from several major streams. Looking back on the 10th the combined flows of the North, Middle, and South forks reported almost 60,000 cfs and that doesn't account for many other creeks and general groundwater runoff that would be flowing into Folsom. The within a week we had an only slightly smaller peak.

Probably the vast majority of the time the big storms don't turn out quite as drastic as they could, but of course at times it can easily go the other way too. I've seen just the South fork alone cary flows from 27,000cf, 40,000cfs to almost 100,000cfs, usually at those times the North fork went even higher. I do believe that they are indeed "holding water back" right now by dropping the flows down to 1200cfs (far lower than I would like to see). Hindsight, is always of course 20/20, perhaps they could/should have held back a bit more, but the flows had been predicted to substantially higher than they actually did, and in that context I don't think that the amount released seems at all out of proportion.

Just to be clear, in no way is this meant as supportive of the politics at play behind water management/flows; but I think it is important to recognize the limits that dams have. They will never be perfect storage vessels for water, and out of necessity (safety) they are very inefficient in terms of capturing available water. Not saying that dams don't have a place, but I think people often think of them as far more ideal than they really are. I also don't see a stable consistent flow being a good thing at all for a healthy stream, nor do I see water flowing out to sea as being wasted.

Consider what happened in 1983 to Glen Canyon Dam, and what *could* have happened: http://www.hcn.org/40years/blog/the-summer-the-dam-almost-didnt
There's been a lot written on the runoff that year, and of the near complete failure of GC Dam, and this article only skims some of the drama, but I think it hits enough to give something to ponder.
JB