Category Archives: Water

Feds Give SMUD 50-Year License For Hydroelectric Projects On American River

The Sacramento Municipal Utility Districtgot a 50-year renewal to operate its hydroelectric projects on the upper American River.

The utility operates 11 reservoirs and eight powerhouses in the upper American, which generate 688 megawatts of electricity, representing about 15 percent of SMUD’s annual power.

Part of the new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission calls for SMUD to make some changes. The utility will make several recreational upgrades to reservoirs and it will increase the volume of water it releases into streams to benefit natural resources.

“It is gratifying to receive a new 50-year license,” SMUD CEO Arlen Orchard said in a news release. “It allows SMUD to continue to generate large quantities of non-carbon-emitting energy over the next 50 years from our most valuable, lowest-cost power supply.”

The license also allows SMUD to move ahead with the design and potential construction of the 400 megawatt Iowa Hillpumped-storage development, which would pump water uphill during times of light electric use, and generate power during summer peak periods.

The utility is still doing feasibility work on the $800 million Iowa Hill project, which could take three years.

More at BizJournals.com >>>

New Folsom Auxiliary Dam To Be Topped Off Friday

The last mass of concrete for the Folsom auxiliary dam is set to be placed July 11, completing the structure of the new dam east of Sacramento on the American River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

 Work will then shift to completing installation of its remaining electrical and mechanical components, including its 12 giant gates.

 Concrete placement for the dam began in May 2012, and crews have worked nearly around the clock, six days a week to pour more than 100,000 cubic yards of concrete for the structure – enough to lay more than 4,000 foundation slabs for 2,000-square-foot homes.

 While construction of the new dam is scheduled to be complete in 2015, additional work on the spillway’s approach channel, downstream chute and stilling basin, which helps dissipate the energy of water released from the dam before it enters the American River, will continue until the project’s planned October 2017 completion.

More at CentralValleyBusinessTimes.com >>>

Climate Change’s Effect On Fish Subject Of Hatchery Talk

As part of a series of discussions presented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, a presentation the effect on climate change on salmon and steelhead trout in the American River is being held at 7 p.m. July 17 at the Nimbus Hatchery Visitor Center, 2001 Nimbus Road, Rancho Cordova.

Preregistration is not required.

Fisheries Branch Program Manager Kevin Shaffer will review the potential impacts of climate change on salmon and steelhead runs in the American River. Climate Associate Whitney Albright will show the steps the department is taking to reduce the effects of climate change and the actions needed to manage fish runs. Both speakers will take questions from those in attendance.

The final session in the series on Aug. 7 will look at aquatic invasive species.

For more information, call (916) 358-2884.

Drought No Hindrance To Raft Tours

The rafting industry in Placer County isn’t suffering, despite low snow melt and ongoing drought conditions throughout the state.

According to local rafting companies, the only problem the drought is causing is in the public perception that rafting on area waterways is less fun because of the drought.

For H2O Adventures, a rafting tour company located in Lotus, business has been booming in spite of drought because of scheduled dam releases on the popular forks of the American River.

Daniel Soule, co-owner of H2O Adventures, said dam controls on the river have helped to offer the best possible rafting experiences for tours during the drought.

“We’re busy, but we could be busier,” Soule said. “In reality, we have the capacity to do groups up to 50 or 60 people.”

Dam releases on the south and middle forks of the American River have helped to provide, what raft guides refer to as, “floatable levels.” Companies are able to plan tours based on a schedule and ongoing agreement with water agencies.

So far, the south fork of the river only sees two days of impassably low water levels, while the middle fork is open all week long.

More at AuburnJornal.com >>>

Deadline Arrives To Pull Boats Out Of Slips At Folsom Lake

After a two-day extension, Sunday evening was the official deadline to pull boats from their slips on Folsom Lake.

The drought has resulted in low water levels, but slip renters got more time than some expected this season.

Marina operators said the water is approaching the 412-foot elevation level.

“When the lake gets to 412, we only have 6 feet under those docks and some of these boats draw 5 feet of 6 feet of water,” said Julie Christensen, assistant marina manager. “We like to get them all out at the same time and leave a bit of cushion.”

More at KCRA.com >>>

Folsom Lake Boaters Get Boat Slip Reprieve

Boat slips at the marina at Brown’s Ravine were scheduled to be emptied by June 27.

However, marina operators said the end date for boat slips has now been extended until Sunday night.

Operators thought they might not see an extension through May earlier this year.

“It’s turned out to be a good season,” Julie Christenson, assistant marina manager, told KCRA last week.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Sacramento State Gains Grant To Deal With Stormwater Runoff

California is mired in a drought, but Sacramento State is getting ready for rain.

The city has received a grant to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff that flows into the adjacent American River. The $3.5 million grant is one of the largest of 27 stormwater grants awarded last month under Proposition 84, a 2006 bond measure that funded water quality projects.

The funds will pay for projects such as landscaping that absorbs and filters stormwater on the California State University, Sacramento, campus. The city hopes that the demonstration projects will serve as models that local businesses and developers can incorporate on their own.

Rainwater that falls on urban areas can’t be absorbed by rooftops and asphalt. The same applies to other urban sources of water – like runoff from overwatered lawns, industrial discharge and even condensation on air-conditioning units.

Sacramento has a system of storm drains to collect this water and send it into the nearby rivers. But along the way, the runoff collects pollutants such as fertilizers, fluids from cars and animal waste. Heavy runoff also contributes to flooding and erosion. To combat those problems, CSU Sacramento will build several new landscaping features.

Rain gardens have a specific mix of soils and often use native plants. The gardens are placed in low areas where runoff occurs, typically near a large building, parking lot or street. The soil and plants filter out sediments and other pollutants. Some of the water evaporates. The rest returns to the storm drain system, cleaner than it was before entering the rain garden.

The project will also have a “green street,” whose porous pavement will let water filter through to soil underneath.

Once complete, the new features at Sacramento State are expected to reduce the volume of stormwater runoff from their respective drainage areas by 50 to 88 percent.

The biggest challenge for the project at Sacramento State will be dealing with what’s already there.

The updated standards recommended by the Sacramento Stormwater Quality Partnership focus on new developments rather than retrofitting old buildings, said Maureen Kerner, a research engineer at the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs and a leader on the grant application. The stormwater partnership is run by multiple local agencies, including the city and county of Sacramento, with the goal of reducing erosion and pollution.

Adding the new facilities will be tricky, since it requires checking for incorrectly recorded utilities, finding enough space and managing local traffic on a campus founded in 1947. Sacramento State civil engineering professor John Johnston, who works with the Sacramento State Office of Water Programs, said they will have to “shoehorn these (changes) in, into a system that’s already there.”

Plants used in rain gardens need to be able to tolerate the varying amount of water, and are likely to include plants native to the local area, such as deergrass. According to Sherill Huun, supervising engineer for Sacramento’s stormwater program, landscape changes like rain gardens are “things that you don’t even notice.”

When physical construction finishes in the early part of 2017, signs describing the facilities, a website and walking tour information will be available to the public. Kerner expects the “campus to be a unique location as an educational facility to promote stormwater management.” $290,000 of the project’s funding is reserved for education and outreach efforts.

Stephen Green, president of the Save the American River Association, was cautious about the project. “The thing about the rain gardens is if they’re neglected, the water just goes through. If they maintain them, (the rain gardens) should continue to work.”

More at SacBee.com >>>

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/06/20/6500417/sacramento-state-gains-grant-to.html#storylink=cpy

 

Boat Slips Closing Soon At Folsom Marina

Boat slips at Brown’s Ravine marina will be closing June 27 because of the lowering lake level.

There are more than 600 slips at Brown’s Ravine on Folsom Lake, and more than half still have boats in them.

Marina managers told KCRA 3 there is currently only about 12 feet of water under the boats. In about a week, some of the boats could be touching the ground.

“It was frustrating,” said Thom Scalzi, who after waiting eight years to get a slip at Brown’s Marina finally got one this year. “When my pass came up for the slip, they said you might have to pull out in two weeks. That was in April. But the water came up.”

The hundreds of people who rent boat slips at Brown’s marina aren’t the only boaters being affected by the lower lake level this year.

“Last year I came out 17 times,” said C.J. Lauria, a boater who lives near Folsom Lake. “This is my fourth time this year and perhaps my last. Last year we bought a season pass and this year we chose not to. It didn’t make a lot of sense. The levels were just too low.”

While the boats at Brown’s marina will have to be pulled from the rental slips at the docs by June 27, the ramps will be open a little longer.

And despite the short boating season, some said it was longer than expected.

More at KCRA.com >>>

Baby Steelhead Released Early As California River Water Heats Up

State wildlife officials released hundreds of thousands of baby steelhead trout from a Northern California fish hatchery on Wednesday — months too early — to try to save their lives in the face of a severe drought.

The baby trout, known as salmonids, were deposited into the American River near Sacramento in the hope that they can survive the heat of summer expected to make water in the drought-stricken state’s hatcheries too warm for them.

The fish normally get many more months to grow in the relative safety of hatcheries before being released into the river, where they swim to the Pacific Ocean to spawn and repopulate Northern California waterways.

California’s fisherman contribute more than $300 million to the state economy.

So, on Wednesday, California Department of Fish and Wildlife workers netted and removed the last of more than 400,000 trout fingerlings from the Nimbus Fish Hatcheryin Gold River, trucked them to a boat launch and released them into the American River.

Water at the hatchery is expected to rise to 78 degrees by late summer, far too hot for the baby fish to tolerate.

“That’s too hot for steelhead,” Gary Novak, the hatchery manager, told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

“We expect they will have a better chance in the river,” Novak said, where the fish could find cooler spots.

“The situation is pretty severe — I have to get rid of all my fish and then hope it rains next year,” he said.

Nimbus Fish Hatchery is one of 22 such facilities run by the state to supply tens of millions of fish to California rivers, which would have been overfished to extinction without the program, the newspaper said.

On Wednesday, the last 85,000 finger-sized babies were released from the hatchery’s tanks and workers with nets scooped them up to be transported to the American River and released.

The Nimbus hatchery released the last of its 3.6 million chinook salmon a few weeks ago, the newspaper said, and the American River Trout Hatchery in nearby Fair Oaks has released all of its fish.

“This happens to be the tip of the iceberg,” Novak said.

“We have the warmest water, (but) with this drought I would assume there is concern at every hatchery,” he said.

More at AllVoices.com >>>

American River Water Flows Increased To Fight Salinity

Water flows into the American River have been increased despite the drought.

State and federal water managers are fighting to prevent San Francisco Bay salinity from intruding into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Sacramento Bee reports the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation increased water releases from Nimbus Dam into the American River yesterday as they did late last month.

Because of drought and very low snow melt, there isn’t enough natural runoff from the Sierra Nevada to hold salt water out of the Delta.

More at CapRadio.org >>>