Keeping Powell at the highest level possible is going to run into the efforts to keep Mead as high as possible. There just isn't enough water for the demands of the entire system.
@@alanaldpal950 the fact commiefornia still uses flood irrigation is beyond me. All those bleeding heart environmentalists and they still use the absolute worst irrigation methods possible.
In July 1983 I turned 15 , for my present I stayed the whole month with my sister in Page and we practically lived on the lake. We were on the tour at the bottom watching the river just boiling and they shut it down and evacuated us. Both spillways were running 100% overflow and the two arcs of water were meeting in the middle and then the 4 big jets came on. The lake just kept rising and they sounded the high water siren, scared the hell outta us for sure, we had no idea what it was about. We went outside and everyone was looking directly at the dam and the fear was thick. There giant chunks of rock and concrete flying out of the overflow tunnels. Great video, I enjoyed it!
Yes, indeed. The cavitation problem occurred in 1983 when the spillway was used for the first time. The cavitation completely destroyed the spillway and it came within a whisker of breaching the entire dam. The giant chunks of rock and concrete you saw was the spillway and the supporting bedrock from under the dam. A more complete description of what happened is documented in the book "Cadillac Desert' by Marc Reisner.
I read a book about that and it turned out that the thing that caused the cavitation was a walnut sized imperfection, a lump of concrete sticking up into the water stream. The lump was still intact but everything Downstream turned into Carlsbad Caverns only with rebar and concrete hanging all around. There are pictures of that area of Destruction within the spillway on TH-cam.
@@michaelford2517 I was only 15 and we were sleeping on a boat and that's ALL the adults were talking about. I'm pretty sure they were saying that the water was about 100' back from where it was that night. We caught stripers and bass on frozen squid and small herring. I was scared because the adults were, I told everyone, if I die on a Lake Powell catastrophe I'm going to go down fishing with a smile! I want to say one day they closed the lake and the river to like Kaibab, Lee's Ferry was definitely closed. On the North side with the visitor center you could hear something was going terribly wrong. If you were on the South end of the bridge you could hear and feel the spillway tearing itself apart. From the bridge on the West side you could look at the exit of the South spillway looking straight down and we could see rock and concrete flying out. That spot is the best to see the North spillway, it was fast and dangerous but nothing like the South one. I'm sure my sister has pictures of the mist going from the dam about ½ mile down the canyon. Good times!
Cavitation is a serious long term structural problem. Perhaps just as large municipal water pipes are repaired by inflatable resin “balloons” that expand and harden to replace existing pipes without having to excavate them this could be done one by one. Could have an underwater compartment attach to each reservoir side outlet and conduct the repairs🤔
My guess is the water flow rate and pressures are far higher than you would get in city water systems. I repair vintage stuff and it's pretty obvious plastic doesn't last all that long. It gets brittle, shrinks or expands, cracks, fades, gets a punky surface, etc. A liner could be something that would need to be reapplied maybe every 10 years. Certainly cheaper than replacing the pipes with a higher grade of steel.
@@rickpaulosten years? At those pressures, it would have to be replaced every thirty minutes, lol!! A more realistic approach would be to put a sacrificial liner in made of a metal that can be formed by pressure. We already do that in the auto industry, and a few others. It’s not cheap, and any good fix that is not cheap is off the table when it comes to politics. Gotta line those pockets!!!!
It's a welding job, then coated with epoxy in the big turbines, but of course the unit is shut down for months, de-watered and opened up all the way up the penstock to the lake. If the damage is downstream of the valves I would think this job could be done in a similar way.
@@black_dragon-carpentry -- Water running through the turbines also irrigates. The "released" water is send down the same place where the turbine exhaust water goes. The were "testing" because they had problems with the flood water release before. They know how to fix most of these problems. They should have implemented all he known fixes before wasting all that energy.
Interesting. Northern California has a similar problem with pipes, etc. at Lake Spaulding Dam. Water is already being rationed to downstream customers due to damage to pipes and valves in powerhouse #1. Powerhouse #1 is owned by PG&E, the electrical generation company (which is up to it's eyeballs in debt and is currently taking it out on it's customers). PG&E was apparently aware of these problems some time ago, but failed to rectify these problems until they have now become an "emergency". These water restrictions are causing great losses to all of the farms and ranches in several counties, it's even affecting small home gardeners. PG&E first stated that repairs were scheduled to be completed in early June, but recently stated that date has now been moved to the end of July. Long enough to put a lot of ranchers and farmers, food greenhouses and businesses dependent on same out of business. Permanently. Not to mention the loss of electricity generated at Spaulding's Powerhouse #1. The Northern Sierras have had a great water year, but we're not allowed to have any of it.
As they should!!!!!!!!!!!! When Commiefornia allows lawsuits from every dick and harry to go against PG&E because they live in a forest that catches fire because commiefornia's policy of no forest maintenance. If PG&E had any sense they'd declare bankruptcy and be done with commiefornia. But then what does make sense in commiefornia?
Actually PG&E has been forbidden -- until a year ago-- from preparing for wildfires or repairing its facilities. It's only allowed to collect. money to pay lawsuits. The Greens have blood on their hands and guilty pleas in their future.
So what is the crisis? keep the penstocks running to generate power and stop the high flow experiments. The river flows and the snow pack in the rockies is high. Everyone has enough water. only use the pipes for necessary water release in \stead of ecperiments. Get started on repairing one at a time right now, problem solved. Such drama queens.
You often need to scare people to get legislators to direct 💵 to the problem. Sometimes that comes via threatening a nasty lawsuit. Other times, it comes from a scaremongering official letter.
If the river outlet works are suffering damage when used there use has to be reduced. You need to maintain some water in the river downstream of the dam or the fish will not like it. Therefore you will have to reduce power generation earlier in a drought so that you can still discharge a minimum flow through the penstocks as long as possible. The problem is that the depth of water is getting lower which is causing the cavitation. The deeper the water the higher the pressure and the lower the chance of air bubbles forming in the water then collapsing forming holes in the steel. With repeated lower water there will be lower pressure and increased cavitation so and repairs will be an increasing ongoing problem. It maybe cheaper an to build some tunnels through the rock to replace the river out fall works which would most likely be very expensive but would remove the risk of failure of the river outfall works.
The "high flow" experiments are used to clear sediment. If not performed regularly the inlets could clog, then the sediment levels would continue to rise. The presenter did mention this, but didn't put adequate emphasis on it.
Thank you! You got right to the point with clear and easy to understand graphics. I cannot stress enough how happy I was to not hear a bunch of chit-chat about stuff. I gave a thumbs up and also subscribed.
Cavitation of the emergency spillway tunnel in 1983 is how they nearly lost the entire Glen Canyon Dam. It is also what caused the rapid deterioration of the Oroville Dam spillway in 2017. To oversimplify it (because I am not a hydrologist), it starts with an irregularity in the spillway surface that causes the water to 'jump', and this results in excess wear on the 'landing' spot, which creates another 'jump' and so on. So, to my thinking, the elevation of the reservoir is not the problem. It is that there are bad spots developing in the pipes. I have a few ideas: 1) If there are problems with the pipes, fix them. They are not going to improve by themselves. And claiming that you cannot release water at a certain elevation, while never mentioning repair efforts, seems a bit off. 2) They are doing this to halt releases into Mead, in order to keep Mead's level lower, because Mead's elevation alone sets emergency rationing policies into motion.
I think you may be misunderstanding a couple things. For one a repair for the cavitation of the outlets was not mentioned because the remedy per the authorities appears uncertain. The releases from Glen Canyon are not in order to keep Lake Mead low, but because further releases at this time could damage the outlets further. The whole point of this video was based on the problem with the outlets due to cavitation. My question is how could these outlets be repaired without reducing the water level which is part of the problem?!
@@michaeldeierhoi4096 They close off the upstream side of the river outlet to do repairs. There’s gates there for the purpose. You can see them in the photo he showed.
@@michaeldeierhoi4096 When they made repairs in 1983, they closed the gates that fed the emergency tunnel once the flood inflows into the reservoir had subsided in July. I do not see why this same technique couldn't be used today. I'm assuming they were able to inspect it being that they found cavitation.
I would like to make a clarification. Cavitation is a low pressure zone that collapses causing microjets of water to impact a surface at high velocity. Like a pressure washer. This is usually controlled by preventing the low pressure vacuum bubbles from forming in the first place by either slowing the flow to prevent enough inertia to create a vacuum, or by increasing the pressure around the area so that there is enough total pressure even in these lower pressure zones to prevent the bubbles from forming. You usually need a large water velocity in order for this to happen. This means that it can happen on any irregular surface on the back side of the fast water flow. Usually when the flow rate is sub critical because otherwise it creates an open non collapsing pocket. Just to reiterate, with all due respect on this matter, it is collapsing microbubbles and not the landing of water.
Again, well presented. The cavitation issue is huge... it sounds like it could bring the whole Colorado River Compact to its knees. That said Glen Canyon Dam is, what?, 60 years old. What was the expected life of it? And Hoover is over 90 years old.
@@PureDWhiteCloud- There are several videos on here that explain that. Particularly in the Pacific Northwest, there have been a number of dam removal projects which are documented here (and of course I can’t think of the names of any at the moment. Glen Canyon Dam shouldn’t have even been built to start with (do some research on the loss of archaeological sites, habitat, as well as the scenic aspects of Glen Canyon sans dam), and the whole allocation of Colorado River water is a complete farce which needs to be redone with an eye primarily towards environmental conservation and what is convenient for human development second.
Most of the water used from the Colorado River is used to irrigate farm land. Those farms feed the entire country during the winter not just the west coast. So to all the people bitching about all the houses enjoy you fruits and vegetables. 🙄
The fact that they’re using the water to grow food doesn’t mitigate the fact that they’re doing so in an environment spectacularly unsuited to the endeavor.
12% to 14% of the water that flows through the Colorado River goes to residential use. Most of the water, 79% to be exact, going towards irrigation for agricultural use producing about 90% of the nation’s winter vegetables.
Cavitation will always occur with cement in the volumes and pressures and speeds of the water we're talking about through these pre-60s damn pipes. Cavitation=prevention measures developed since then mostly solve the problem. They retrofit such a solution into one of the spillway tunnels when they rebuilt it in 83. If you want to keep using those 4 pipes you must fix them. Not a quick fix either.
Cavitation can destroy the hardest and toughest materials over time and this demise should have been expected and repaired much earlier. I am sure the cost is going to be very high but the alternate costs could possibly exceed the PM costs.
has there been a new understanding of cavitation effects that was not available when first designed, or did the original design assume low-level releases would be rarely needed, avoiding the then-known cavitation risk.
Less was known in the 1950s plus new fixes like length wize grooves that pull air along with the water help. Also plenty of water can be let out in making electricty
They likely never intended those to be opened except in emergency discharge needs to prevent dam breach. They are not designed for sediment control, that's a newish thing that we realized needed to be accounted for in dam construction decades too late. It's why the Mead reservoir was losing significant storage capacity prior to the significant water income loss issue. Using those valves that way is a workaround, which is against their design and subsequently results in damage those systems weren't meant to regularly accumulate, and they add up with each incorrect yet necessary use. It's not alone in this, nor is it alone in its accumulated damage from improper yet necessary use in the water control systems of the US.
Yall do know there a a huge ditch were this all starts called thw grand ditch and over half of the snow pack and mountains run off goes to eastern colorado right? theres 2 i believe 24 inch pipes that were drilled threw the mountain as well to ensure east colorado gets there water as well. if yall think the lower water problem is some drought thing. think again. its 2 issues. 1 i mentioned it above the bureau is sending it else were so control of the water from the government. 2 cali is farming in the middle lf the desert making Good Hay and almonds burning about 3.3ish mil cubic acre feet of water a year. to sell the Hay to the middle east. so thats money control threw the government.
My understanding is that water levels all along the Colorado are still so low that multiple years of heavy rain and snow would be rewuired before the is even mild concern approaching full capacity. In the meantime if desired the dams can let a little more water through uf desired and that will even help the river ecology. So if repairs need to be made, there us plenty of time to fix and the described pipes are something that can be done without affecting operations significantly
Several years ago a company wanted to build a desalination plant in California. The California refused to let them build it. Any water issues that California has, are self made.
Mulholland was an evil genius acquiring all the water rights for Ca. My idea was to build a 1000 mile canal or pipe from lake Michigan, but Canada would have to sign off on it and apparently they never would. There was an interesting plan drawn up in the 1950's to get water from a glacier in Alberta Canada, but it required about 150 dams be built and it would cost hundreds of billions maybe a trillion dollars now, and Canada would have to agree. I know those idea's are over the top, but it's interesting to see the idea's people have come up with.
Ubsered how much fresh water is being released and allowed to flow into the Pacific Ocean. In these crazy times of efforts to remove dams the solution is more retention thru additional reservoirs. (“ whiskey for drinking waters for fighting over.”)
By the time the unused water reaches the Pacific it is about 1/4 as saline as the ocean water. Mexico is never happy with the quality or quantity of the water that reaches them.
So what you're saying is that full flow cannot be used when there is no need to use full flow? Unless I'm misunderstanding you? Not releasing water at maximum speeds when levels are low makes sense. And therefore it's not a 'ticking time bomb', merely a safety consideration.
The Orville Dam spillway deteriorated with a flow of 25% of maximum Designed flow .the spillway cement was not the cement that was called for or paid for...
Juan Browne (the blancolirio channel) had a lot of coverage of the Oroville dam mess. IIRC unmanaged erosion of the underlying soil - always a huge issue in earthen dams - was the root of the problem.
California is also one of the worlds top producer of food, and also, California is THE top producer of food in the USA. It's a hefty price to pay. However, there is also alot of extremely irresponsible uses of water here in California, so alot of water that can be saved for sure.
@@cawalkabout In this age of climate crisis, water for farming is a top priority. However, it makes no sense to destroy the Colorado to fill the millions of swimming pools in California. The Colorado is a finite resource, and we should remember that Mexico and the Gulf of Cortez need a steady supply of water.
Wow, looks like you got another TH-cam hit! Enjoyed the video. Nice work on this one! Although the problems with piping at Glen Canyon Dam have been known for quite a while, it's good to see it's being widely reported ("breaking") and accepted now by the general public. Important decisions ahead... how to fix and future-proof things for both flood AND drought👍
"We dumped all the water in the ocean when it was raining a lot so we can charge more for this precious resource and declare emergency drought conditions se we can get more money from the government and we get to rip off our customers!!! Brilliant!!!" -Every Dept. Of Water
yo whats up with all these ai videos, narration, comments and commenters on comments WHAT THE FUCK is the internet dead i feel like every other video is just 95% ai everything what the fuck
better keep that water flowing, the desert rats need all that water to keep their palm trees looking fresh and swimming pools full. and let's not forget all the resorts in Vegas, gotta keep that paradise in tip top shape, because it's critical to the survival of the species.
Its more Cali. Cali pulles 4.4 mil cubic acre feet of water a year 65% of that goes to alfafa and almond farmers. question do you know why the middle east gave up farming Hay? because it cost to much of there water resource in the middle of the desert. Now here we are making Hay and selling over 95% to the middle east. animal farmers in cali are by Hay from my are of Illinois to feed there cows and horses because the Hay they produce is being sold. its all about power and money and control.
Much of the water in the largest resorts comes from wells. Nevada is allotted 3% of the Colorado River water. The vast majority of the Colorado River goes to California agriculture.
Anyone else think that mountain looked odd at 6:17? Almost looks like a massive chunk of mountain was blasted 💥 away or like a science fiction movie when a spacecraft crashes into a planet, they always take a chunk out of a least one mountain. Also wow it’s a pretty view, good editing of the video.
You know what is funny is when UT was on strict water guidelines. Vegas was in nine they could water everyday as long as it was before 10am. And they were begging for other states to give more water
Environments want high releases to build up the sandbars too. 1983 was truly a remarkable year, but the large runoff was only part of the reason for the overflow. The government agency responsible for the lake level left both lakes to high for the spring runoff.
Could never understand why some of the water, used for power production, couldn’t be returned to Lake Mead? The same water that is released could be used to turn a screw mechanism that lifts the water up and back into Lake Mead. I’m sure an engineer could design a gear reduction that could lift the water. Even if you only return 50% of the water it would be better that losing all of it.
So if they get rid of the dam how will they control the floods from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming ? How will Lake Mead be protected? All the people down stream will be affected, Phoenix area , Southern California,and Nevada. Maybe people could the books written about the river and what it was like prior to the dams and how it was like flushing a toilet all the water runs down in less than two months a years and ten months it’s a trickle .
Is there no way to engineer a laminar flow within the existing pipes? It would surely lower the amount of released water but it would retain material integrity by eliminating cavitation.
I first saw the GCD while playing American Truck Simulator. I stopped right on the middle of the bridge to admire it. If I ever go to the US, I'll def want to go there.
@@flagmichael Actually it was not, at least if they had actually researched prior practices. It was documented that the release pipes were not to over used and they over used them. EVERY THING has a duty cycle. Exceed it and pay a price.
@@Nail56 The dam guys need top have the balls to say no. and if necessary walk away. I did. Sure that choice cost...but a year or so later it cost the business much much more.
So.... why not just flow water through the turbine generators? You may not be able to make power with them, but you can definitely flow water. This honestly sounds like alarmism for emergency funds.
@@opossumlvr1023 That is debatable, but removing them now would be an environmental disaster. Removing Glen Canyon, for example, would destroy the 1.2 million meters of shoreline. It would be like poisoning every waterbird in the area at once. Ecosystems downstream would have to adjust to the unrestrained seasonal changes, and erosion from uncontrolled flow would sustain to the tragedy. The Sierra Club has been mindlessly supporting the removal of Glen Canyon dam for decades; they have no clue at all.
@@flagmichael Mother Nature created dams and large reservoirs on the Colorado River and destroyed them and still nature still exists in the area now known as the Grand Canyon. Natural lava dams on the Colorado River were up to 1,400 feet high and created huge reservoirs that lasted from a few years to decades or more. Remnants of these dams can be seen at places like Whitmore Canyon Overlook in Parashant or Toroweap, in Grand Canyon National Park.
Who are the "Officials"? Are they drafting technicians or degree engineers in senior management positions or some guy with an arts degree who can do whatever he wants because he knows he cant get fired.
Most likely the answer to that is yes. You've heard of the Great Extinction of 250 million years ago, well we're in the middle of the Great Stupidization.
Wait ...... the levels will keep on increasing, as the snow packs are also increasing, but of course that msm doesn't say a word about that...!!! These types of pipes always have cavitation problems, it's just how the system is set to function and maintenance should be a major concern...!!!
20 million people in the Southwest will have to eventually migrate north around the Great Lakes, kids go long and by property up there! Ha, ha but, we’ll see
Um. So basically this is a bypass when the generators aren't online or for an emergency release. I fail to see how that is a problem. You clearly stated that raising water levels will prevent further damage and if the dam is in operation, then those pipes arent in use. This entire video is blown way out of proportion and is juat fear mongering.
Well maybe you should watch the video and pay attention to it! It's extremely important that water gets released down stream, there are millions of people that rely on it. It's not fear mongering. Jesus Christ dude!
When was this ? It's been months since the water level at Lake Meade has increased by any amount, even 2 inches, 2ft would be very noticeable. BTW, Lake Powell hasn't recorded any decrease over a couple of inches either, in months. This as of 4/16/24 4:00PM MST. I have questions about this video.
quit feeding so much water to keep lake mead at a much higher level and keep both powell and mead at equivalent storage levels. both lakes have alot of people who depend on them
Cavitation on a 60-70 year old structure isn’t a real issue? I think we know more about modeling now to design more durable structures. Must be brutal, though, designing robust structures dealing with the immense pressures and volumes they are subjected to here. High flow experiments are née
Everybody wants money for their special project. Too many people think they can control Mother Nature. It takes objective grown ups to determine the right thing to do, if anything. Throwing money and time at controlling Mother Nature is a waste.
You're overstating the urgency here. This time of year always has the lowest level for Lake Powell because the seasonal snowmelt is just starting now. As you said, the record low happened in _April_ of 2022. The mountains that feed into Lake Powell have higher than average snowpack again this year, which means that the level will start rising quickly in a few weeks, and it will be higher at this time in 2025 than it is today (just as it increased between April 2023 and today as a result of last year's above-average snowfall). In other words, it will take a minimum of 2 years before the levels can get low enough to bring the river outlet works into play, and that will only happen if next year is a drought. The Bureau has a time to fix this before it creates an issue for downstream users. If they don't act then this will become a ticking bomb, but we're not there yet. This is really the entire point of the high-flow test - to make sure that issues like this are triggered when we still have "runway" to address them, and thereby avoid a repeat of the near-failure of 1983 (which truly _was_ a time bomb). It's something to watch, but no more than that.
I think you need to look up how much extra water lake Powell received in 2022 and 2023. It wasn’t all from snow pack. I know they took an extra 500,000acres of water from Utahs flaming gorge. That doesn’t include the other states. In turn the Utah residents were put in strict rations of 2 days a week. All while Las Vegas was still allowed to water everyday. It’s so bizarre to me how everyone can’t see the problem lies within each states government and how they are allotting the water. The snow pack alone will not fill the lake. But extreme preservation will help. So far not all the state ls have showed this they are just demanding. Its really just selfish
forgive me...I'm a dumba$$ ol' country boy...but as you explain it...the lower the lake gets, the harder it is to drain it??? REALLY??? who woulda thunk it???
Keeping Powell at the highest level possible is going to run into the efforts to keep Mead as high as possible. There just isn't enough water for the demands of the entire system.
There is enough water…… if it is allocated and managed correctly…. So I guess you are correct after all
@@alanaldpal950 the fact commiefornia still uses flood irrigation is beyond me. All those bleeding heart environmentalists and they still use the absolute worst irrigation methods possible.
What in the Sam Hill are you talking about? 142 feet below full? Did you listen to this?
There is plenty of water, if it wasn’t wasted and used by people that have zero idea about conservation and land management.
@@andrewwood6285 it would be fuller if the officials would stop pumping the overflow out wene it rains and redirect it to lake mead.
In July 1983 I turned 15 , for my present I stayed the whole month with my sister in Page and we practically lived on the lake. We were on the tour at the bottom watching the river just boiling and they shut it down and evacuated us. Both spillways were running 100% overflow and the two arcs of water were meeting in the middle and then the 4 big jets came on. The lake just kept rising and they sounded the high water siren, scared the hell outta us for sure, we had no idea what it was about. We went outside and everyone was looking directly at the dam and the fear was thick. There giant chunks of rock and concrete flying out of the overflow tunnels. Great video, I enjoyed it!
Another cavitation problem. That must have been a sight to see!
Yes, indeed. The cavitation problem occurred in 1983 when the spillway was used for the first time. The cavitation completely destroyed the spillway and it came within a whisker of breaching the entire dam. The giant chunks of rock and concrete you saw was the spillway and the supporting bedrock from under the dam. A more complete description of what happened is documented in the book "Cadillac Desert' by Marc Reisner.
I read a book about that and it turned out that the thing that caused the cavitation was a walnut sized imperfection, a lump of concrete sticking up into the water stream. The lump was still intact but everything Downstream turned into Carlsbad Caverns only with rebar and concrete hanging all around. There are pictures of that area of Destruction within the spillway on TH-cam.
We were at bullfrog Marina in 1983 when that happened. Everyone was talking about it.
@@michaelford2517 I was only 15 and we were sleeping on a boat and that's ALL the adults were talking about. I'm pretty sure they were saying that the water was about 100' back from where it was that night. We caught stripers and bass on frozen squid and small herring. I was scared because the adults were, I told everyone, if I die on a Lake Powell catastrophe I'm going to go down fishing with a smile! I want to say one day they closed the lake and the river to like Kaibab, Lee's Ferry was definitely closed. On the North side with the visitor center you could hear something was going terribly wrong. If you were on the South end of the bridge you could hear and feel the spillway tearing itself apart. From the bridge on the West side you could look at the exit of the South spillway looking straight down and we could see rock and concrete flying out. That spot is the best to see the North spillway, it was fast and dangerous but nothing like the South one. I'm sure my sister has pictures of the mist going from the dam about ½ mile down the canyon. Good times!
Shoulda fixed them when it was an empty dust bowl not long ago!
What good does it do to ask what they should have done? The problem is here now so authorities need to proactively problem solve going forward.
James, are you kidding? Fixing them when the water was lower would have required forethought. We’re dealing with state employees here.
@@blipco5 and Federal... even more useless and incompetent
I get a kick out of the city laying new blacktop and fresh paint, then cut trenches to lay pipes afterward.
@@steven.h0629government spending at its finest. It’s not their money… why would they care 😂
Cavitation is a serious long term structural problem. Perhaps just as large municipal water pipes are repaired by inflatable resin “balloons” that expand and harden to replace existing pipes without having to excavate them this could be done one by one. Could have an underwater compartment attach to each reservoir side outlet and conduct the repairs🤔
My guess is the water flow rate and pressures are far higher than you would get in city water systems. I repair vintage stuff and it's pretty obvious plastic doesn't last all that long. It gets brittle, shrinks or expands, cracks, fades, gets a punky surface, etc. A liner could be something that would need to be reapplied maybe every 10 years. Certainly cheaper than replacing the pipes with a higher grade of steel.
@@rickpaulosten years?
At those pressures, it would have to be replaced every thirty minutes, lol!!
A more realistic approach would be to put a sacrificial liner in made of a metal that can be formed by pressure.
We already do that in the auto industry, and a few others.
It’s not cheap, and any good fix that is not cheap is off the table when it comes to politics.
Gotta line those pockets!!!!
We have performed this procedure at my mill on 36” dia pipe over a k long works great
There are some fixes which have been tested and seem to work. They let air into the pipe at certain places.
It's a welding job, then coated with epoxy in the big turbines, but of course the unit is shut down for months, de-watered and opened up all the way up the penstock to the lake. If the damage is downstream of the valves I would think this job could be done in a similar way.
I missed something. If the lake level is so low, why are they releasing any water, except for the hydroelectric amount?
They are releasing water to fill dams downstream.
You need some water in the river or all the fish etc will die. A living river will treat the water flowing to lake Mead a dead one will not.
@@uberfalcon1965 -- Why waste the water? Just make more electricity and sell it.
Because the water released directly irrigates food crop production down stream. For get the fish B's.. it's our food
@@black_dragon-carpentry -- Water running through the turbines also irrigates. The "released" water is send down the same place where the turbine exhaust water goes.
The were "testing" because they had problems with the flood water release before. They know how to fix most of these problems. They should have implemented all he known fixes before wasting all that energy.
Interesting. Northern California has a similar problem with pipes, etc. at Lake Spaulding Dam. Water is already being rationed to downstream customers due to damage to pipes and valves in powerhouse #1. Powerhouse #1 is owned by PG&E, the electrical generation company (which is up to it's eyeballs in debt and is currently taking it out on it's customers). PG&E was apparently aware of these problems some time ago, but failed to rectify these problems until they have now become an "emergency". These water restrictions are causing great losses to all of the farms and ranches in several counties, it's even affecting small home gardeners. PG&E first stated that repairs were scheduled to be completed in early June, but recently stated that date has now been moved to the end of July. Long enough to put a lot of ranchers and farmers, food greenhouses and businesses dependent on same out of business. Permanently. Not to mention the loss of electricity generated at Spaulding's Powerhouse #1. The Northern Sierras have had a great water year, but we're not allowed to have any of it.
As they should!!!!!!!!!!!! When Commiefornia allows lawsuits from every dick and harry to go against PG&E because they live in a forest that catches fire because commiefornia's policy of no forest maintenance. If PG&E had any sense they'd declare bankruptcy and be done with commiefornia. But then what does make sense in commiefornia?
Actually PG&E has been forbidden -- until a year ago-- from preparing for wildfires or repairing its facilities. It's only allowed to collect. money to pay lawsuits. The Greens have blood on their hands and guilty pleas in their future.
So what is the crisis? keep the penstocks running to generate power and stop the high flow experiments. The river flows and the snow pack in the rockies is high. Everyone has enough water. only use the pipes for necessary water release in \stead of ecperiments. Get started on repairing one at a time right now, problem solved. Such drama queens.
You often need to scare people to get legislators to direct 💵 to the problem. Sometimes that comes via threatening a nasty lawsuit. Other times, it comes from a scaremongering official letter.
No. California takes tons of water from other states and lets their own rain empty into the ocean. California needs to quit bleeding other states dry.
No such thing a straight forward repairs when the government is involved..
If the river outlet works are suffering damage when used there use has to be reduced.
You need to maintain some water in the river downstream of the dam or the fish will not like it.
Therefore you will have to reduce power generation earlier in a drought so that you can still discharge a minimum flow through the penstocks as long as possible.
The problem is that the depth of water is getting lower which is causing the cavitation. The deeper the water the higher the pressure and the lower the chance of air bubbles forming in the water then collapsing forming holes in the steel. With repeated lower water there will be lower pressure and increased cavitation so and repairs will be an increasing ongoing problem. It maybe cheaper an to build some tunnels through the rock to replace the river out fall works which would most likely be very expensive but would remove the risk of failure of the river outfall works.
The "high flow" experiments are used to clear sediment. If not performed regularly the inlets could clog, then the sediment levels would continue to rise. The presenter did mention this, but didn't put adequate emphasis on it.
Plz keep us updated. Thx for the info.
There is still a lot of 2024 snow in the mountains that has to melt so the lake will go up.
Thank you!
You got right to the point with clear and easy to understand graphics. I cannot stress enough how happy I was to not hear a bunch of chit-chat about stuff.
I gave a thumbs up and also subscribed.
Content creators need to stop asking viewers to LIKE their content before watching it.
Cavitation of the emergency spillway tunnel in 1983 is how they nearly lost the entire Glen Canyon Dam. It is also what caused the rapid deterioration of the Oroville Dam spillway in 2017. To oversimplify it (because I am not a hydrologist), it starts with an irregularity in the spillway surface that causes the water to 'jump', and this results in excess wear on the 'landing' spot, which creates another 'jump' and so on.
So, to my thinking, the elevation of the reservoir is not the problem. It is that there are bad spots developing in the pipes. I have a few ideas:
1) If there are problems with the pipes, fix them. They are not going to improve by themselves. And claiming that you cannot release water at a certain elevation, while never mentioning repair efforts, seems a bit off.
2) They are doing this to halt releases into Mead, in order to keep Mead's level lower, because Mead's elevation alone sets emergency rationing policies into motion.
I think you may be misunderstanding a couple things. For one a repair for the cavitation of the outlets was not mentioned because the remedy per the authorities appears uncertain.
The releases from Glen Canyon are not in order to keep Lake Mead low, but because further releases at this time could damage the outlets further. The whole point of this video was based on the problem with the outlets due to cavitation.
My question is how could these outlets be repaired without reducing the water level which is part of the problem?!
@@michaeldeierhoi4096 They close off the upstream side of the river outlet to do repairs. There’s gates there for the purpose. You can see them in the photo he showed.
@@michaeldeierhoi4096 When they made repairs in 1983, they closed the gates that fed the emergency tunnel once the flood inflows into the reservoir had subsided in July. I do not see why this same technique couldn't be used today. I'm assuming they were able to inspect it being that they found cavitation.
@@michaeldeierhoi4096 Watch 'Challenge at Glen Canyon, 1983'. It is wonderful.
I would like to make a clarification. Cavitation is a low pressure zone that collapses causing microjets of water to impact a surface at high velocity. Like a pressure washer. This is usually controlled by preventing the low pressure vacuum bubbles from forming in the first place by either slowing the flow to prevent enough inertia to create a vacuum, or by increasing the pressure around the area so that there is enough total pressure even in these lower pressure zones to prevent the bubbles from forming. You usually need a large water velocity in order for this to happen. This means that it can happen on any irregular surface on the back side of the fast water flow. Usually when the flow rate is sub critical because otherwise it creates an open non collapsing pocket. Just to reiterate, with all due respect on this matter, it is collapsing microbubbles and not the landing of water.
Again, well presented.
The cavitation issue is huge... it sounds like it could bring the whole Colorado River Compact to its knees.
That said Glen Canyon Dam is, what?, 60 years old. What was the expected life of it? And Hoover is over 90 years old.
Your point regarding age?
How does one, end a dam? What does a dam Actually look like when it comes to its "end"?
@@PureDWhiteCloud- There are several videos on here that explain that. Particularly in the Pacific Northwest, there have been a number of dam removal projects which are documented here (and of course I can’t think of the names of any at the moment.
Glen Canyon Dam shouldn’t have even been built to start with (do some research on the loss of archaeological sites, habitat, as well as the scenic aspects of Glen Canyon sans dam), and the whole allocation of Colorado River water is a complete farce which needs to be redone with an eye primarily towards environmental conservation and what is convenient for human development second.
I had a cavitation in my underwear... high levels of Taco Bell is my hypothesis.
@@bradcrosier1332Yep
Most of the water used from the Colorado River is used to irrigate farm land. Those farms feed the entire country during the winter not just the west coast. So to all the people bitching about all the houses enjoy you fruits and vegetables. 🙄
The fact that they’re using the water to grow food doesn’t mitigate the fact that they’re doing so in an environment spectacularly unsuited to the endeavor.
Half of which NEVER gets eaten.
Yea, and don't forget the "immigrants" that do all the work Americans refuse to do. Then again, maybe I'm too "woke."
7 million people living in a desert. Swimming pools everywhere. I'll never understand why we tried to inhabit the unhabitable.
Most of these deserts are surrounded by lakes, rivers or near areas with snow runoffs
It's good for everyone else
It's really quite nice. People have been successfully living in deserts since forever. 😊
12% to 14% of the water that flows through the Colorado River goes to residential use. Most of the water, 79% to be exact, going towards irrigation for agricultural use producing about 90% of the nation’s winter vegetables.
Yeah let’s all live on the east coast! Then we can let rivers run wild during the spring destroying everything then are dry the rest of the year.
Cavitation will always occur with cement in the volumes and pressures and speeds of the water we're talking about through these pre-60s damn pipes. Cavitation=prevention measures developed since then mostly solve the problem. They retrofit such a solution into one of the spillway tunnels when they rebuilt it in 83. If you want to keep using those 4 pipes you must fix them. Not a quick fix either.
Quite a story on that ‘83 cavitation problem. Workers hearing rumbling sounds as chunks of concrete tumbled through the pipes.
Cavitation can destroy the hardest and toughest materials over time and this demise should have been expected and repaired much earlier. I am sure the cost is going to be very high but the alternate costs could possibly exceed the PM costs.
@@michaelbisnett4845 They know the pre-60s pipes will fail. It would cost sooo much to fix them all, so they wait until they break.
has there been a new understanding of cavitation effects that was not available when first designed, or did the original design assume low-level releases would be rarely needed, avoiding the then-known cavitation risk.
Less was known in the 1950s plus new fixes like length wize grooves that pull air along with the water help. Also plenty of water can be let out in making electricty
They likely never intended those to be opened except in emergency discharge needs to prevent dam breach. They are not designed for sediment control, that's a newish thing that we realized needed to be accounted for in dam construction decades too late. It's why the Mead reservoir was losing significant storage capacity prior to the significant water income loss issue. Using those valves that way is a workaround, which is against their design and subsequently results in damage those systems weren't meant to regularly accumulate, and they add up with each incorrect yet necessary use. It's not alone in this, nor is it alone in its accumulated damage from improper yet necessary use in the water control systems of the US.
Yall do know there a a huge ditch were this all starts called thw grand ditch and over half of the snow pack and mountains run off goes to eastern colorado right? theres 2 i believe 24 inch pipes that were drilled threw the mountain as well to ensure east colorado gets there water as well. if yall think the lower water problem is some drought thing. think again.
its 2 issues.
1 i mentioned it above the bureau is sending it else were so control of the water from the government.
2 cali is farming in the middle lf the desert making Good Hay and almonds burning about 3.3ish mil cubic acre feet of water a year.
to sell the Hay to the middle east. so thats money control threw the government.
yes!
Good images, thorough presentation, but what I really wanted to see were some pictures of the cavitation damage.
My understanding is that water levels all along the Colorado are still so low that multiple years of heavy rain and snow would be rewuired before the is even mild concern approaching full capacity. In the meantime if desired the dams can let a little more water through uf desired and that will even help the river ecology.
So if repairs need to be made, there us plenty of time to fix and the described pipes are something that can be done without affecting operations significantly
California and the west coast should have desalination facilities by now.
Several years ago a company wanted to build a desalination plant in California. The California refused to let them build it. Any water issues that California has, are self made.
Guess they didn’t grease the right palms, aye
Mulholland was an evil genius acquiring all the water rights for Ca. My idea was to build a 1000 mile canal or pipe from lake Michigan, but Canada would have to sign off on it and apparently they never would. There was an interesting plan drawn up in the 1950's to get water from a glacier in Alberta Canada, but it required about 150 dams be built and it would cost hundreds of billions maybe a trillion dollars now, and Canada would have to agree. I know those idea's are over the top, but it's interesting to see the idea's people have come up with.
There is only one desalination plant and it's in San Diego. They are paying the highest water rates in the US. Higher than even Phoenix, AZ.
Waste of money. If cities run low on water they can buy it from farmers. Hell, some of that water is used to grow hay for Saudi Arabia.
The more scarce you make water, the more you can charge and keep control of the population. Keeping water levels low benefits the water authority.
Water isn't scarce. The planet is 70% water
Drinkable water.
Bingo - creating artificial scarcity = control
@@jamskinner
Reverse osmosis
Al these years of drought, and now you are worried about the integrity of the dams. Go gay Pete and all the little butt-i-geges.
I hate people who say " hit the like button " before they even start the video !!!! Grrrrrrrr !!
Money for upkeep and such is usually denied, roads, bridges, dams. Then the expected happens and everyone asks why!
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
The root cause…
Trying to supply too many people living in a F’ing desert!!!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Seriously, im so done with people thinking everything is climate changes fault
What are our options?.. living in a shit hole garbage dump like commyfornia?.. they STEAL our water and run it into the ocean.
Where do you live?
@@domini384 ...... It's our fault... stop sweeping reality under the carpet.
@@scottprather5645 The reality is you're delusional if you don't actually see what's going on
Ubsered how much fresh water is being released and allowed to flow into the Pacific Ocean. In these crazy times of efforts to remove dams the solution is more retention thru additional reservoirs. (“ whiskey for drinking waters for fighting over.”)
By the time the unused water reaches the Pacific it is about 1/4 as saline as the ocean water. Mexico is never happy with the quality or quantity of the water that reaches them.
Allowing farms with extremely high water demand plants is a major factor ... cotton, almonds ....
Thank you. Question is, do the pipes need to be repaired? Redesigned, perhaps with an altered geometry that might reduce cavitation?
We were on the river during last April’s release. Made for an interesting trip.
So what you're saying is that full flow cannot be used when there is no need to use full flow? Unless I'm misunderstanding you? Not releasing water at maximum speeds when levels are low makes sense. And therefore it's not a 'ticking time bomb', merely a safety consideration.
If the river outfall works can not be used then there will be no water in the river below lake Powell when the lake is very low. The river will die.
The Orville Dam spillway deteriorated with a flow of 25% of maximum Designed flow .the spillway cement was not the cement that was called for or paid for...
Siphoned federal funds.
Yup
Juan Browne (the blancolirio channel) had a lot of coverage of the Oroville dam mess. IIRC unmanaged erosion of the underlying soil - always a huge issue in earthen dams - was the root of the problem.
The cement detereated there is video
The problem is that California takes 65% of the water from the Colorado River. If California was not draining the river, there would be no problems.
California is also one of the worlds top producer of food, and also, California is THE top producer of food in the USA. It's a hefty price to pay.
However, there is also alot of extremely irresponsible uses of water here in California, so alot of water that can be saved for sure.
@@cawalkabout In this age of climate crisis, water for farming is a top priority. However, it makes no sense to destroy the Colorado to fill the millions of swimming pools in California. The Colorado is a finite resource, and we should remember that Mexico and the Gulf of Cortez need a steady supply of water.
Just stop people from moving to the arid southwest and help them return to the Rust Belt instead 🤦♂️
We were never the dust belt. That is elsewhere.
Sand stone doesn’t hold water well
Well that does help recharge the ground water......
Never did........get it??
It is soft
You should consider having a little bit of knowledge of what you're talking about before you speak. It really is helpful in life.
@@Riceman-o1p literally has stone in the name
Recommend reading Emerald Mile!
Wow, looks like you got another TH-cam hit! Enjoyed the video. Nice work on this one! Although the problems with piping at Glen Canyon Dam have been known for quite a while, it's good to see it's being widely reported ("breaking") and accepted now by the general public. Important decisions ahead... how to fix and future-proof things for both flood AND drought👍
"We dumped all the water in the ocean when it was raining a lot so we can charge more for this precious resource and declare emergency drought conditions se we can get more money from the government and we get to rip off our customers!!! Brilliant!!!"
-Every Dept. Of Water
Totally agree!!!! Best thing I've read ever!!! Thanks
yo whats up with all these ai videos, narration, comments and commenters on comments WHAT THE FUCK is the internet dead i feel like every other video is just 95% ai everything what the fuck
I look forward to your next video and if you change this voice I won’t be disappointed.
Where's that build back better cash? Where's the massive pork filled infrastructure money? Easy fix if the damn money stays in this country.
better keep that water flowing, the desert rats need all that water to keep their palm trees looking fresh and swimming pools full.
and let's not forget all the resorts in Vegas, gotta keep that paradise in tip top shape, because it's critical to the survival of the species.
Vegas recycles more water than just about any other city.
And crops
@@KevinBreak and they lose more water to evaporation and transit than they recycle
Its more Cali.
Cali pulles 4.4 mil cubic acre feet of water a year 65% of that goes to alfafa and almond farmers. question do you know why the middle east gave up farming Hay? because it cost to much of there water resource in the middle of the desert.
Now here we are making Hay and selling over 95% to the middle east. animal farmers in cali are by Hay from my are of Illinois to feed there cows and horses because the Hay they produce is being sold. its all about power and money and control.
Much of the water in the largest resorts comes from wells. Nevada is allotted 3% of the Colorado River water. The vast majority of the Colorado River goes to California agriculture.
Anyone else think that mountain looked odd at 6:17? Almost looks like a massive chunk of mountain was blasted 💥 away or like a science fiction movie when a spacecraft crashes into a planet, they always take a chunk out of a least one mountain. Also wow it’s a pretty view, good editing of the video.
Tnx for the update and explanation
You know what is funny is when UT was on strict water guidelines. Vegas was in nine they could water everyday as long as it was before 10am. And they were begging for other states to give more water
Not thinking needing to release more water especially faster is an issue right now. Especially for a very long few years
Watch out below anyone down river of this DAM ….RUN !
Environments want high releases to build up the sandbars too. 1983 was truly a remarkable year, but the large runoff was only part of the reason for the overflow. The government agency responsible for the lake level left both lakes to high for the spring runoff.
First type of video I've seen without any Global Warming propaganda added to it.
Gee, sounds like another good reason for a tax increase in CA....
Dude. It HURTS when whiskey comes out my nose...🤣🤣🤣🤣 🤣
Why do you ask your viewers to hit the like button before your video plays? That's an interesting tactic.
To stop the cavitation, open about 10%, which will reduce the cavitation.
Our Navy Ships also cavitate. The fix was reduced the power 😊😅
Clearly, those charging for water have done NOTHING but pocket every dime. No money has gone into maintenance of that dam.
I bet we don't hear about it on the news.
Oh well, saw it scrolling across the screen on this mornings news.
That dam has always had consrruction work on it . Major construction on highways around there also not long ago.
Could never understand why some of the water, used for power production, couldn’t be returned to Lake Mead? The same water that is released could be used to turn a screw mechanism that lifts the water up and back into Lake Mead. I’m sure an engineer could design a gear reduction that could lift the water. Even if you only return 50% of the water it would be better that losing all of it.
So if they get rid of the dam how will they control the floods from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming ? How will Lake Mead be protected? All the people down stream will be affected, Phoenix area , Southern California,and Nevada. Maybe people could the books written about the river and what it was like prior to the dams and how it was like flushing a toilet all the water runs down in less than two months a years and ten months it’s a trickle .
Interesting. Thanks.
Same issue the overflow had in 1983 and 84.
Is there no way to engineer a laminar flow within the existing pipes? It would surely lower the amount of released water but it would retain material integrity by eliminating cavitation.
Sharp. Great video
FANTASTIC VIDEO!!!
I first saw the GCD while playing American Truck Simulator. I stopped right on the middle of the bridge to admire it.
If I ever go to the US, I'll def want to go there.
This year has a good snowpack so the runoff should greatly benefit Lake Powell...
People tend to forget that lake Powell's purpose is to keep lake Mead full...
So in other words, the numptys actually operating the dam screwed up, did NOT in fact understand what they were doing and damaged the dam. Wonderful.
No - the vulnerability was unknown.
@@flagmichael Actually it was not, at least if they had actually researched prior practices. It was documented that the release pipes were not to over used and they over used them. EVERY THING has a duty cycle. Exceed it and pay a price.
Actually, political pressure is the problem. Politicians must deliver water even if incases short term damage.
@@Nail56 The dam guys need top have the balls to say no. and if necessary walk away. I did. Sure that choice cost...but a year or so later it cost the business much much more.
Don’t want to release below min power pool anyway. The objective is to keep Lake Powell full.
So.... why not just flow water through the turbine generators? You may not be able to make power with them, but you can definitely flow water. This honestly sounds like alarmism for emergency funds.
just wanted to remind everyone they want to remove Powell and mead dams!!!!!!!! pay attention to what thier doing !!!
You think? That would be a real tragedy.
@@lloydchristmas1086 The real tragedy was building them in the first place...
@@opossumlvr1023 That is debatable, but removing them now would be an environmental disaster.
Removing Glen Canyon, for example, would destroy the 1.2 million meters of shoreline. It would be like poisoning every waterbird in the area at once. Ecosystems downstream would have to adjust to the unrestrained seasonal changes, and erosion from uncontrolled flow would sustain to the tragedy. The Sierra Club has been mindlessly supporting the removal of Glen Canyon dam for decades; they have no clue at all.
who is "THEY"
@@flagmichael Mother Nature created dams and large reservoirs on the Colorado River and destroyed them and still nature still exists in the area now known as the Grand Canyon. Natural lava dams on the Colorado River were up to 1,400 feet high and created huge reservoirs that lasted from a few years to decades or more. Remnants of these dams can be seen at places like Whitmore Canyon Overlook in Parashant or Toroweap, in Grand Canyon National Park.
I know it's actually there but I'll be extremely happy when the United States actually starts using the metric system
Don’t open the valves all the way and reduce speed through the pipes.
I love how ppl that don't know anything, think they know everything. Hilarious
You do not want air in the pipe, it destroys them.
Wow, 39 feet that's crazy
What is sounds like is poor engineering
Who are the "Officials"? Are they drafting technicians or degree engineers in senior management positions or some guy with an arts degree who can do whatever he wants because he knows he cant get fired.
And likely a DEI hire?
@@MidnightWarrior1976Beat me to it!
Are you really that shallow?
Most likely the answer to that is yes. You've heard of the Great Extinction of 250 million years ago, well we're in the middle of the Great Stupidization.
???? Old news. This was known back in the early 80's when the dam went thru extreme cavitation during emergency release when the pool was full.
Exactly.... Drama Queen videos like this are like chicken little the sky is always falling
It was not record breaking. Look at the official historical records going back 140 years, not just "adjusted" records going back 40 or 50 years.
There is plenty of water everywhere on this earth. But governments don’t want you to know that.
go to Arizona and tell us how much water you find.
I don't get it either? Why are they releasing water if the water levels are so low? Should only be using the penstocks for energy.
Wait ...... the levels will keep on increasing, as the snow packs are also increasing, but of course that msm doesn't say a
word about that...!!! These types of pipes always have cavitation problems, it's just how the system is set to function and
maintenance should be a major concern...!!!
20 million people in the Southwest will have to eventually migrate north around the Great Lakes, kids go long and by property up there! Ha, ha but, we’ll see
What it comes down to is just not very good maintenance on Glen Canyon Dam and poorly designed
great video
So we’re 32 feet above average but only 30% of full pool. Why should I be worried?
I was about to get the the point of my video but. Let me tell you how the dam works?? Lots of curse words here.
I instantly thought about Hydro Thunder when I saw the thumbnail
Raaaad Hazard!
Those men that built the dam used the wrong pipes 🤔 I don't beleave
You I want a second opinion !!!! Who did this work ????
Um. So basically this is a bypass when the generators aren't online or for an emergency release. I fail to see how that is a problem. You clearly stated that raising water levels will prevent further damage and if the dam is in operation, then those pipes arent in use. This entire video is blown way out of proportion and is juat fear mongering.
Well maybe you should watch the video and pay attention to it! It's extremely important that water gets released down stream, there are millions of people that rely on it. It's not fear mongering. Jesus Christ dude!
If there is no water released the river downstream will die. Dead stuff flowing into lake Mead will not be good.
We need to build a bypass around Glen Canyon Dam.
Make it long enough to attract adventurers ride $$ to the bottom 👍😎✊
Because...?
Just use some hoses and siphon the water I need 5 million for some garden hose
When was this ?
It's been months since the water level at Lake Meade has increased by any amount, even 2 inches,
2ft would be very noticeable. BTW, Lake Powell hasn't recorded any decrease over a couple of inches either, in months.
This as of 4/16/24 4:00PM MST.
I have questions about this video.
Show melt in colorado in the spring
She said 2 inches is noticeable 😊
You think over the last couple years with Low water they would have had time to repair and fix any issues with these damns..
The four foot outlet pipes have an inch sign on them robot .
quit feeding so much water to keep lake mead at a much higher level and keep both powell and mead at equivalent storage levels. both lakes have alot of people who depend on them
Government at its finest...spend on dumb things...not important things
More important to deal with politics than real issues.
Cavitation on a 60-70 year old structure isn’t a real issue? I think we know more about modeling now to design more durable structures. Must be brutal, though, designing robust structures dealing with the immense pressures and volumes they are subjected to here. High flow experiments are née
I'm glad you had government subsidized electricity to post your relevant comment.
Utah is not letting any water come down into Lake Powell that is the problem they're hoarding water up there😊
i did not know their were dams upstream of lake Powell, could you tell the name of the lakes.
Everybody wants money for their special project. Too many people think they can control Mother Nature. It takes objective grown ups to determine the right thing to do, if anything. Throwing money and time at controlling Mother Nature is a waste.
This is me telling you off in the comments section as requested. Screw you, and great video! Take THAT, algorithm!
Let's see who's gonna eat this one ....NEVER ...policy makers or the people in charge.
You're overstating the urgency here. This time of year always has the lowest level for Lake Powell because the seasonal snowmelt is just starting now. As you said, the record low happened in _April_ of 2022. The mountains that feed into Lake Powell have higher than average snowpack again this year, which means that the level will start rising quickly in a few weeks, and it will be higher at this time in 2025 than it is today (just as it increased between April 2023 and today as a result of last year's above-average snowfall).
In other words, it will take a minimum of 2 years before the levels can get low enough to bring the river outlet works into play, and that will only happen if next year is a drought. The Bureau has a time to fix this before it creates an issue for downstream users. If they don't act then this will become a ticking bomb, but we're not there yet.
This is really the entire point of the high-flow test - to make sure that issues like this are triggered when we still have "runway" to address them, and thereby avoid a repeat of the near-failure of 1983 (which truly _was_ a time bomb).
It's something to watch, but no more than that.
I think you need to look up how much extra water lake Powell received in 2022 and 2023. It wasn’t all from snow pack. I know they took an extra 500,000acres of water from Utahs flaming gorge. That doesn’t include the other states. In turn the Utah residents were put in strict rations of 2 days a week. All while Las Vegas was still allowed to water everyday. It’s so bizarre to me how everyone can’t see the problem lies within each states government and how they are allotting the water. The snow pack alone will not fill the lake. But extreme preservation will help. So far not all the state ls have showed this they are just demanding. Its really just selfish
😢 u build in tue desert this was bound to to happen and the USA infrastructure is crumbling
Everything is fine….
forgive me...I'm a dumba$$ ol' country boy...but as you explain it...the lower the lake gets, the harder it is to drain it???
REALLY???
who woulda thunk it???
Really