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The extent of Lake Powell is at the moment at an elevation of three,523 toes, 177 toes beneath capability. The intakes that permit water by way of the dam to generate hydropower are at 3,490 toes.
Hydropower is helpful in sustaining the steadiness {of electrical} grids partially as a result of the quantity of electrical energy generated can shortly be modified to assist the grid match demand. In her letter, Ms. Trujillo stated that if Powell reached 3,490 toes, “the western electrical grid would expertise unsure danger and instability.”
As well as, she wrote, water provides to Western and Southwestern states “could be topic to elevated operational uncertainty.” Water provides to Web page, Ariz., close to the dam, and a close-by Native tribe, would particularly be in danger, she wrote, as a result of their consumption is at about the identical elevation because the hydropower intakes.
The dam itself would face “unprecedented reliability challenges,” Ms. Trujillo wrote, as a result of with the hydropower intakes above the water degree, the lake water must be routed by way of the dam utilizing decrease tunnels that weren’t designed for steady use. “We’re approaching working circumstances for which we now have solely very restricted precise working expertise — and which occurred practically 60 years in the past,” she wrote.
Brad Udall, a senior local weather scientist at Colorado State College, stated the issues within the letter in regards to the reliability of the facility grid and of the dam had probably not been raised in all of the drought contingency planning over the previous few a long time.
“We’ve expended numerous effort in producing plans” for what occurs when the reservoirs fall to vital ranges, Mr. Udall stated. “And what we’re discovering out, sadly, is that these plans are turning out to be utterly insufficient. Abruptly these new points come up and haven’t having beforehand been thought-about and are actually essential.”
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