TIME OUT?

TIME OUT?

We just returned from Lake Mead, where we took a tour of the dam and the turbine room. The BLM tour guide took us to just above the Nevada side turbines, where we could see a 30-foot pipe that led down to the turbines.  Then we saw the turbine room itself, where only two of the turbines were operating.

I asked him the status of the research on Glen Canyon dam – where they are evaluating whether the side tunnels can stand the cavitation if they have to empty the lake.  He didn’t know the answer.  However, he thought that Lake Powell was ten or so feet from losing electric power production.

In any case, the dramatic “bathtub ring” was easily visible around the side of the lake.  We marveled at the loss of water since the dam was full.  The top of the four large penstocks gleamed in the sun.  I believe the power production of the Hoover dam is now about 60-70% of normal, due to the loss of water height.

Lake Powell is inching closer to power production loss, possibly later in 2023.

And still no announcement from the BLM regarding recommendations for water cutbacks.  One wonders what sort of discussions are going on behind closed doors.  I guess we will just have to wait to find out.