Problem at Flaming Gorge??

Jerry Trottmann (jtrottma@hach.com)
Tue, 24 Jun 1997 16:06:26 -0600 (MDT)

This may be a little off topic, if so, just ignore and let the topic die.
On Saturday June 21 at about 6:00 pm a "coupling separated" inside Flaming
Gorge Dam releasing about 6 inches of water onto the main power plant floor.
This was reported by Kimberly Murphy of Associated Press. This story made
only page 9 of the local Ft. Collins paper and there has been no mention on
the radio or TV news. After reading the book "Cadillac Desert" and the
account of how close the BLM came to loosing Glen Canyon in '82, I wonder if
we are hearing the whole truth.

Does any one lurking out there know how close they really came to a major
problem with the plumbing on the Colorado?

The flow on the Green dropped from 6000+cfs to 2000+cfs and then they let
surface water (much warmer) out over the spillway.
This incident sounds much like the '82 high water year when Glen Canyon was
close to being reclaimed by the river.

Of course; Charles Calhoun, regional director of BLM's Upper Colorado Region
said "We don't feel we have a safety or a dam problem at all."

Are there any studies of what happens if Flaming Gorge fails? Does the
water then overflow Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam?

#==Paddle Hard -- Laugh Often ========================#
# Jerry B. Trottmann

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