🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <dopowell-1202972221450001@1.1.1.1>,
David O. Powell <dopowell@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
>In article <5dsnk8$13e5@hpbs1500.boi.hp.com>, tmenten@boi.hp.com (tom
>menten) wrote, in part:
>
>> Your expertise is civil engineering, yes?  Tell us about the long term
>> costs, in updated dollars, for a typical dam you've studied.  I understand
>> that they usually silt in after many decades and then lose their water
>> storage and flood control capacity.  True or myth?  What is the cost to
>> deal with silt? 
>
>I frankly find Mr. Menten's question ridiculous.  Siltation of large
>reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada is not a significant problem.

Excuse me? Wishful thinking on your part that siltation is not a problem.

Siltation of Terminus Reservoir on the Kaweah River in the Southern
Sierras was the primary justification for the recent Army Corps
proposal to raise the spillway 21 feet on Terminus Reservoir,
at a cost to taxpayers of $20.2 million, and to the local irrigation
district of $14.3 million. This project is totally corporate welfare
for agribusiness, and the project is *not dead*. See the Dam Raising
Proposal (7/96) under the California - issues section of the River
Pages project on the AWA homepage, www.awa.org.

There are continuing siltation problems with some of the dams on the
North Fork Feather. See the NF Feather EA (11/96) in the same location.
Also, siltation of the old dam on the Carmel River (not in the Sierras)
was a major factor for the recent proposal for the New Los Padres
project; the funding for this project which was defeated at the ballot
box by the local taxpayers. The locals did not want to see their water
bills double or triple in order to pay for a new water supply for major
housing developments in the Salinas/Monterey/Carmel area.

Most of the dams in the state are 30-50 years old and approaching their
first relicensing, and by the time that we baby boomers are croaking,
will be going for their next relicensing, and some will have much more
serious siltation problems at that time, especially the dams built on
rivers with highly erodable soils and minimal ground covering, such as
the Kaweah River. I hope that the Army Corps/BuRec engineers are trying
to figure out reasonable solutions to this problem, as I don't consider
continuing to raise the height of these dams to be a viable longterm
solution.

-Susan