Photos courtesy California Natural Resources Agency Engineering revisions include elimination of two concrete-lined sedimentation basins, to be replaced by earthen bays (above). The preferred plan includes three pumping plants (below). Related Links: Gov. Brown Unveils Scaled-back Bay Delta Plan View the Partially Recirculated Draft EIRt/Supplemental Draft EIS The Bureau of Reclamation and the California Dept. of Water Resources (CWR) offered additional detail to their revised plan to build a $15-billion water conveyance system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Officials released a revised draft environmental-impact report and statement for the new plan, known as California WaterFix. Designed to eliminate the difficulty
In the thirsty West, where there is a growing need to find new water supplies, large water-diversion schemes have returned to the forefront of planning.The controversial Yampa Pumpback project in Colorado proposes to divert 2,000 cu ft per second of water, or around 97 billion gallons a year, from the Yampa River into a new 500,000-acre-ft reservoir near Dinosaur National Monument in the northwestern part of the state.From there, it would be pumped through a pipeline and tunnels nearly 250 miles east into a storage reservoir near Fort Collins, Colo. Cost estimates for the project range from $3.9 billion to
France's national waterway authority has named a design-firm team to plan and manage construction and commissioning of what will be an estimated $5-billion new canal to transport freight in northern Europe. The 107-kilometer-long Canal Seine Nord will link the River Seine basin from north of Paris, near Compeigne, to the River Schleidt, near Lille, to form a key part of a Trans-European Multi-Modal Corridor. The 54-meter-wide by 4.5-m-deep canal will handle vessels up to 4,400-tonnes capacity and require 55 million cu m of earthworks The waterway authority Voies Navigables de France awarded the 12-year contract, valued at $90 million, to
Related Links: $5.25-Billion Panama Canal Expansion Program Moves Into the Final Leg The $5.25-billion expansion of the Panama Canal entered its latest phase in June, as the recently completed Atlantic and Pacific locks of the new third lane were flooded for the first time. The installation of the gates on the locks, which will allow the Canal to pass ships carrying 13,000 to 14,000 TEUs (20-ft-equivalent units), has been considered the most complex and difficult portion of the expansion project. With the new gates in place, operational testing can begin."We started flooding the Atlantic locks on June 11, then we
Photo Courtesy of California Dept. of Water Resources Scientists from California's Dept. of Water Resources measure subsidence in the Central Valley. Related Links: Abstract of Water Resources Research article Two new studies show that some of the largest groundwater basins in the world are being drained by human consumption but that there is little information about how much water remains in them.Published in Water Resources Research on June 16 and conducted by a team of researchers from the University of California at Irvine, the studies draw upon data supplied by NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. The study evaluates
Related Links: Opponents Sue To Halt Red River Flood Control Project Army Corps Plan Would Tame Red River, Prevent 100-Year Flood Minnesota and North Dakota are at odds over the construction of a rural ring levee opponents say is part of the approximately $2-billion Fargo, N.D.-Moorhead, Minn., Diversion Project designed to change the course of the Red River, which threatens to flood both cities almost every spring.In May, a federal judge stopped construction until the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources completes its ongoing environmental review of the project. The Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority says losing the remainder of the construction season
Related Links: Judge Braden's ruling Commentary on ruling by Liz Fagot, senior advisor, Dawson & Associates A May 1 ruling in federal district court in Washington, D.C., found that a failure of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-built levees in New Orleans allowed flooding and led to an illegal government taking of private property. The ruling has potentially big implications, prompting experts to consider appeals."I can't see the Corps not wanting an appeal on this," says Les Edelman, a senior counsel and senior advocate at Dawson and Associates Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in federal water resources and environmental
Photo by John Guzzon / ENR In the Las Vegas Wash (above), the weir (below) restricts heavy flows, which helps to limit silt depositions in Lake Mead. Photo by John Guzzon / ENR Related Links: The Last Straw: Lake Mead Third Intake Digs Deep Few visitors to Las Vegas are likely to realize they are using the same water as on their previous visit. The city and its environs are one of the few U.S. metro areas that reclaim nearly every drop of water that goes down the drain. After it is processed at two treatment plants south of The
Related Links: Multi-Year Bank Rehab Secures Las Vegas Wash Lake Mead Intake Project Manges Risk Proactively Lake Mead, the reservoir for drinking water in Las Vegas, is in trouble. The city and its suburbs have long been challenged by a limited water supply, but the very real effects of climate change are exacerbating and accelerating already dry conditions. The region's 2 million residents depend almost entirely on the Colorado River, yet its lake-stored flows are set to dwindle significantly in the next few decades.Located about 30 miles from the city's downtown, Lake Mead's depth has sunk to perilously low levels—
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