Time for western Washington residents to buy a generator???

[leastprime]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

This site says the Columbia is at only 19% of normal flow today. Is this correct?

https://snoflo.org/river-levels/colu...65%2C000%20cfs.

California's wet Spring was our water loss.
We were in Vancouver BC earlier this month, their leader was saying conserve water usage now, else water restrictions will be forthcoming.

Sammamish River at Redmond, looks stagnant. A lot of algae growth and water grass.

[509]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

This site says the Columbia is at only 19% of normal flow today. Is this correct?

https://snoflo.org/river-levels/colu...65%2C000%20cfs.

The flows will drop significantly in August according the Douglas County PUD.

However, here are a couple of websites from USGS.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

Interesting that if you look at 2001 levels we are rapidly approaching that point.

Not sure I trust the 19% number, but flows are predicted to be much lower than normal next month. I could not find any accurate forecasts.

You can call the BPA office in Portland and ask to speak to the Public Affairs Specialist, they will find somebody to answer your question. I suspect BPA already has an answer.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

We had a really good snowfall this past winter. Rivers should not be running low.

California had massive amounts of rain and they let most of that water just run out into the ocean, so they are still complaining about water shortages, which at some point means electricity shortage, which means they will be pulling more electricity from Washington and Oregon, which means less electricity for Washington and Oregon.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Sitting over here, it looks to me like Seattle and Washington are badly run, but you can't blame the politicians for lack of rain or snow, which is the only reason for the rivers to be running low,

[leastprime]

The Columbia River dams in WA are "Run of the river" designed. They have relatively small water storage capacity unlike Hoover and Glenn Canyon Dams.

Seattle is a PUD. They will have first call on electricity financed by US Bonds and backed by the rate payers of the PUDS. regardless of pricing and what is sold to private utilities & California. BPA website used to have a history section.

Regardless of who is your electrical provider, PUDs who owns the dams and they can sell to the power generated to whom they want. Web farms have a reason to site in PUDs.

...

[StealthRabbit]

Columbia River flow is VERY dependent on Salmon Run (during peak season).

at the moment, water is being conserved (behind dams), so when the fish start running, more flow (or variation) will be available.

https://www.columbiariverkeeper.org/...-and-steelhead
https://critfc.org/fish-and-watershe...-river-salmon/

[rkcarguy]

Gov't hasn't been investing in infrastructure. We should be building more dams to hold back more water when we have rain(Western WA gets PLENTY of rain 9 months of the year) and generate electricity, not trying to take the dams we have out. Build them upstream of existing with fish bypasses so they are a lower impact on the fish. During heavy rains, excess power generated can be used to "pump-back" the water to keep the dams topped off. Create more lakefront property, more recreational lake opportunities, more power, more water, more fish, everybody wins.
Every year the alarm sounds on low flows in the Nooksack River, but the summertime record low flows were still from the 70's or early 80's IIRC. It's actually increased from 1,210 to 1,400 CFS with the warmer weather back. Still lots of snow left to melt.
Lastly, when the river flows are low the fish hold up in the bays where they are predated by seals and netted. Changes need to be made there too. But, follow the money(other places it's going), to see why change isn't happening.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Gov't hasn't been investing in infrastructure. We should be building more dams to hold back more water when we have rain(Western WA gets PLENTY of rain 9 months of the year) and generate electricity, not trying to take the dams we have out. Build them upstream of existing with fish bypasses so they are a lower impact on the fish. During heavy rains, excess power generated can be used to "pump-back" the water to keep the dams topped off. Create more lakefront property, more recreational lake opportunities, more power, more water, more fish, everybody wins.
Every year the alarm sounds on low flows in the Nooksack River, but the summertime record low flows were still from the 70's or early 80's IIRC. It's actually increased from 1,210 to 1,400 CFS with the warmer weather back. Still lots of snow left to melt.
Lastly, when the river flows are low the fish hold up in the bays where they are predated by seals and netted. Changes need to be made there too. But, follow the money(other places it's going), to see why change isn't happening.

California started building water catchment facilities in agricultural areas toward the end of their major drought period. I don't know where that effort stands now, but it looks like a good idea for the NW in general. Especially since the general trend in the last 10+ years, roughly, with some exceptions, has been for the summer dry period to extend back well into May and through September. The longer dry periods are a major contributor to the heightened wildfire risk in western WA.

However, whatever measures are taken in that regard would need to be guided by an overall hydrology study of the region. IOW, if river water is captured by new dams, how would that affect downstream energy generating capacity and water availability to population centers downstream? It's complicated.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

However, whatever measures are taken in that regard would need to be guided by an overall hydrology study of the region. IOW, if river water is captured by new dams, how would that affect downstream energy generating capacity and water availability to population centers downstream? It's complicated.

Sure it is. But during a heavy rain event, two things happen: The dams have to open flood gates and let it go. We don't have much storage capacity. Secondly, in the fall, salmon spawning grounds can get completely wiped out by the high river flows. I've seen this personally, as one of my past favorite fishing holes was 1/4 mile below the grounds, and after a really bad November where the river tore the whole thing up the fishing was never the same again.
Generally, if we can store more water, even if it has to be pumped somewhere during high flow seasons because all the upgrade areas we have gravity water flow are already tapped out. It can be metered out during low flow times to help keep flows at a good level and lower temperature when we really need it. This is better for everyone. Think 3-4 smaller dams or lakes with pumps feeding them behind every large dam.

[Pahn]

Originally Posted by leastprime

I'm

I'm turning deeper "red", as in wealth loss. I've thrown a lot of our excess retirement funds at new tech energy.

If we paid for it 50+ years ago on the first EarthDay, our energy wants will still exceed our E needs. I marvel how we obsolete older technologies rather quickly. Ten year planning is about as far our as we can comfortably plan for and still it is just a guess.

I don't have much faith in political leadership from any and all political factions.
Money or Lack of, will make change happen.
Ymmv

Good luck getting any large-scale energy project done. Half the population thinks taxes are some form of theft. Those that push for nuclear can't explain what we're supposed to do in the 10+ year interim that would be a best case scenario to plan, fund, permit, build, and startup new nuclear.


A lot of these people also decry wind and solar as dead ends (even though they can and do get built in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost of nuclear).


And let's be honest, one political party has made it a priority to "own" the other, and hasn't even attempted to govern for decades.