Rolling Blackouts and
Releases From Glen Canyon Dam

Two decades of science-based management efforts of the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon dam are threatened by the electrical energy crisis in the west. Two bills presently before the House, hr 1664 and hr 1647, may force Federal generating facilities to deliver relief to California during severe electrical shortages, called Stage III or rolling blackouts, during the next few years. California's half-baked attempt at energy deregulation has failed, resulting in bankruptcy conditions for the big utilities and the fabulous enrichment of independent power producers. Who suffers? …rate payers and the environment. The Bush administration has taken a hands-off approach, so far. Dam releases may return to patterns similar to the pre-eis days, when hydropower and the water regulation was the only game in town; the downstream river ecosystem didn't matter to anyone except river runners, forced to ride the yo-yo of dramatic and unpredictable daily tides.
Western Area Power Administration can deliver up to 350 megawatts from Glen Canyon Dam to California. This is the maximum due to transmission limitations and is roughly equivalent to a 7,000 cfs increase in river flows from the dam. They expect a minimum of 34 days of Stage III rolling blackouts, probably more, beginning now and extending through September at least. They will only give about an hour of lead time and will notify the nps ramp rangers asap.

Western intends to limit California's access to emergency power to 4–5 days/month, due to limitations in monthly volumes to be released from the dam. Electrical emergency flows will most likely occur during the daytime peak energy demand periods, but no guarantee.
As of May 1, the basin is dry in the north and wet in the south. Some recent precipitation has increased the below normal snowpack. We can expect average daily releases from the dam to be 10k cfs (7k-13k cfs fluctuations) for most of the summer, except August where it will increase to 13k cfs. Watch out for frequent emergency flows of 7k cfs on top of the normal daily high release.
This is an important year for our Adopt-a-Beach program to photo monitor the effects of changing hydrology on beaches and the quality of camping. Thanks to all you great volunteers! I recommend to camp high or keep a sentry posted to watch the river level throughout the night. Otherwise, you might lose something important, or get stranded high and dry. Keep your ear to the water and please let us know how dam releases affected your river trip. Safe journeys.

Andre Potochnik
amwg