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chris
Site Admin
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Posted: Mar 3, 2009 Post Subject: SFA below Slab Creek Dam - flow computation
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| Dreamflows computes the flow below Slab Creek Res, and reports it as http://www.dreamflows.com/realtime.php#Site074. This computation is based on the reservoir level - when the level is higher than the top of the dam, it will (naturally) spill, and SMUD-supplied information allows us to calculate what the spill is. SMUD can't release much through the dam itself, so this computation of flow in the river should be close enough for most purposes.
But that's just the put-in flow. You can experience tremendous flow pickup from side creeks as you paddle downstream, and it seems that pickup starts almost immediately. More than that, at times like this SMUD diverts as much as they can (to White Rock PH), so what you see in the river is sort of like the tip of an iceberg - a rain squall adding 20% flow above Slab may translate to far more than an extra 20% below. This may likewise increase the apparent size of your eyeballs.
The studs - naturally - playboat their way down at any flow, hooting and hollering with wild abandon. But the rest of us sometimes find it's good to leave an extra car at the Mosquito Road bridge ... just in case. Parking there is limited, though, so use this option sparingly.
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SFAGeology
Member
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| Posted: Aug 7, 2009Post Subject: scheduled releases from slab creek??
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| | Are there any that anybody know of? Who could we beg plead and cajole into opening this dam, oh I don't know. Once a year? So unreasonable??
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chris
Site Admin
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| Posted: Aug 7, 2009 |
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| Scheduled flow releases are being handled as part of the relicensing of SMUD and PG&E's dams and powerhouses (primarily SMUD's). This has been going on for several years now. All the paperwork is in, has been for ages, and the word on the street is that the new license should be issued "soon" (this fall?). When the new license is issued, SMUD will start scheduled boatable releases below Slab Creek as per the new license.
Note that as a special case, SMUD and PG&E are already operating under the terms of the new license agreement for Chili Bar, which is why we've been enjoying predictable, boatable scheduled releases every weekend of the year (and most days of the week during summer) for a couple seasons now. This is very generous of them; they have no obligation to do this.
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SFAGeology
Member
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| | Thanks, Chris.
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