🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5e03n7$6i6@engnews1.Eng.Sun.COM>, susans@Eng.Sun.COM wrote:

> In article <dopowell-1202972221450001@1.1.1.1>,
> David O. Powell <dopowell@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:

> >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.

Good examples of siltation problems in California's reservoirs snipped.

I would also reference an article by Nancy Vogel in the January 29th
Sacramento Bee, titled "Storm Debris Shrinks Folsom Lake Space." The
article points out that silt introduced in the 1986 high water event shrank
Folsom reservoir's capacity from 1.01 million acre-feet to 9.77 million
acre-feet. This year's storms are thought to have added sufficient
additional silt to reduce the reservoir's capacity further. 

Tom Aiken, area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation is quoted as saying, 
   
"In somebody's lifetime, lakes like Folsom will have to be lowered and
excavated if people decide to restore capacity."

"It definitely will have an impact that people will feel in the future. For
floods, for storage, for everything."

Professor Jeffrey Mount, in _California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict
Between Fluvial Process and Land Use_, provides a very interesting
discussion not only on sedimentation within reservoirs, but also on the
effects of dams on the profiles of rivers below the dam. He states, "To put
it simply, our reservoirs are filling up with sediment."  Two examples that
he provides are Sweasey Dam on the Mad River, which is completely filled,
and Scott Dam, which forms Lake Pillsbury on the Eel River, that is losing
its capacity rapidly, with 25%  filled so far.

-- 
Richard Penny   *    Development Director    *   Friends of the River
128 J St., 2nd Floor * Sacramento, CA  95814  *  916-442-3155 (voice)
rpenny@ix.netcom.com * www.friendsoftheriver.org * 916-442-3396 (fax)