Quote:
Originally Posted by Daves911L
Good math, but I think your estimate of hopper capacity at 5750 cu. ft. is high. Maybe close to total physical volume for light commodities (grain) but sediment will be heavy, and probably more like 3000 cu ft/car.
Plus there is something on the order of 10,000 AF of sediment entering Mead annually (10% of what it used to be, before Powell started intercepting most of it) that has to be dealt with before the hole grows any bigger.
What has been happening is a number of reservoirs have had their storage increased either by raising the dam crest, or modifying spillway/outlet works capacity to allow higher safe operating level. If memory serves, this was already done at Folsom a few years back.
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The environmental police would make dredging that sediment nearly impossible. My neighborhood wanted to dredge out the 6ft of biomass at the bottom of our pond but DEP requirements are beyond our ability to pay. I can imagine the requirements to dredge Mead would be more than onerous.
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