"Ha, we got down here without a permit, no one saw us, hey, what's that sound, it's getting louder, OMG! AHGH!,~SPLASH~..blub-blub-gurgle......."
Posted on 03/05/2008 10:22:35 AM PST by yorkie
An unusual experiment is taking place today at the Grand Canyon. Water will be released from the Glen Canyon Dam as officials create a manmade flood to help flush sediment down river into the canyon.
The controversial move is an attempt to rebalance the eco-system.
Three hundred gallons of water came rushing through the bypass valves per second.
The Department of the Interior authorized this high tech experiment because it says that it wants to restore some of the habitat. It essentially wants to scour the Colorado River and restore some of the sediment on the river's banks and also restore some of the habitats of some endangered species.
(Excerpt) Read more at kare11.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1976164/posts
Check out the video at the link
We can flush a canyon..... if only we could flush the left-wing sewer of the Demagogic Party......
That’s a pretty nifty way of filling a swimming pool...
I wonder why they are wasting water doing this during a severe drought?
this should also add some water to Lake Mead, which is drying out rapidly.
this water will be stopped at lake mead....
Where’s Al Gore in a canoe when we really need him?
Well, the onrush of the water release nitrogenated the water and massive amounts of smolt ended up dead behind the dams.
Your education dollars at work.
Helps the fishing between Paria riffle and the dam.
More like three hundred thousand gallons of water per second. Forty-thousand cubic feet.
They're all floaters
They’ve done this before........
It's credited against the 8+ million acre-feet the Upper Colorado has to give to the Lower Colorado every year.
And in 10 years we will look back at all the problems they created.
It is my understanding that it will reduce the depth considerably at Lake Powell (which is already low).
They have been showing the flooding on FNC, and it is hard to fathom that much water.
A more detailed article from the LATimes:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-grand4mar04,0,2189507.story
I don’t know why they’re calling it an experiment. They’ve done it before. If they don’t know what the results were the first time, they sure shouldn’t be doing it again. If they already know from past experience what happens, then it’s not really an experiment.
If I remember correctly, the prior release DID create relocate the main stream sediment to many sand bank, ox-bow deposit areas. The problem is, that without regular normal flood spates, these sand deposits erode back into the main stream and wind up in the bed again.
High velocity scouring must occur regulary for the stream or river to maintain healthy sand banks, flora and fauna. Upstream dams do not allow for this. The Bureau of Nat Resources or whoever, wants to try and create more sand bank areas for the river boaters to camp on overnight!!
Secondarily, the water being released from these artificial lakes often comes from below the thermocline. It is often oxygen and nutrient depleted. Most life occurs in the top 30 feet of these deep lakes where light and temperatures are much friendlier. The released water will quickly warm and and be oxygenated but the nutrients are gone!
I didn’t sleep at a Holiday Inn express, but did study Limnology under Dr. H. H. Hobbs III.
So should they do it with oxygenated, nutrient-rich water & do it more often; or should they not do it at all?
“Limnology” - new word for me. I would have totally guessed the meaning incorrectly, based on the meaning of the root “limn”...
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