There you have it.... I had a lengthy conversation earlier today with the DEC. Part of revision 7, the interim fisheries plan, was to keep the water temperature on average for the day, below 72 and the temperature was not to exceed 75 degrees at any given point.
NOT SO GOOD NEWS FOR THE MAINSTEM As of now, the Hankins Temperature target has been taken out of the equation and can not be met, meaning no releases to stop it from hitting highs like today, of 78 and rising. The last 6 days saw high temps at hankins of 76, 75, 77, 74, 77 and today.
Reasoning is, the thermal bank of 9200 CFS which historically before Revision 7, was rarely used at this time of year, has been used quite a bit. Over 4000 CFS of it. The remaiing water is currently being used to protect the West Branch, Eastbranch and Neversink with corresponding releases of 300,150 and 120 CFS as of 11 am this morning. The DEC under todays rules with revision 7 had no choice but to write off the hankins target. They have called out the the DRBC and DEP to somehow let them borrow water from somewhere, give them more water, anything so they can start protecting the downstream, mainstem areas.
The reasoning for using up so much water, this early from the thermal bank is exactly what was predicted early on by FUDR. Due to the extreme heat of the past few weeks, there is more call for power, therefor PPL is generating more releases than their usual June and July, "business as usuall" releases. Sending water through montague.
The Mongaup has been also contibuting a lot of water to Montague because of the Dam breach at Swingingbridge. That all adds up to less rivermaster calls for water.
Just a note, the mongaup river USGS gage is above swinging bridge reservoir. It tells nothing about what goes into the mainstem.
The DRBC and DEP must cooperate and allow the DEC to release water to protect the upper main stem. The DEC is caught between a rock and a hard place. Maybe an emergency meeting to get DEC more water to release by the Decree Parties. Or, since it is obvious that the amelieration bank will not be used in August since it can only be used in declared drought to offset PPL releases, maybe they can add the amelieration bank to the thermal bank.
Unless more water is alloted to DEC to use for thermal, or rivermaster calls for water from the upstream reservoirs, the mainstem is heating up big time.
Todays reservoir capacities: Cannonsville 90% Pepacton 93% Neversink 97% and the Ashoken which has almost the same amount of capacity as Neversink and Cannonsville combined, is at 98.9%
This is one more reason why flow targets, temperature targets and banks will not work. A release plan, taking out the "probability", the "what ifs" and all the other neat buzz words and getting guaranteed releases is where it has to start.
I would urge anyone who loves the Delaware System to call, email, and/or write the following people, asking them to allot more water somehow to the DEC for releases to protect the upper mainstem and at least stay in compliance with the current revision 7.
Carol Collier, Executive Director of the DRBC (a quote from her bio: [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"She (Ms. Collier) thinks proper management of water resources is the key to our economic and environmental future.")[/font] carol.collier@drbc.state.nj.us 609-883-9500 Ext. 200
Michel Principe, NYC Deputy Water Commission DEP go here for email: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/mail/html/maildep.html
NOT SO GOOD NEWS FOR THE MAINSTEM As of now, the Hankins Temperature target has been taken out of the equation and can not be met, meaning no releases to stop it from hitting highs like today, of 78 and rising. The last 6 days saw high temps at hankins of 76, 75, 77, 74, 77 and today.
Reasoning is, the thermal bank of 9200 CFS which historically before Revision 7, was rarely used at this time of year, has been used quite a bit. Over 4000 CFS of it. The remaiing water is currently being used to protect the West Branch, Eastbranch and Neversink with corresponding releases of 300,150 and 120 CFS as of 11 am this morning. The DEC under todays rules with revision 7 had no choice but to write off the hankins target. They have called out the the DRBC and DEP to somehow let them borrow water from somewhere, give them more water, anything so they can start protecting the downstream, mainstem areas.
The reasoning for using up so much water, this early from the thermal bank is exactly what was predicted early on by FUDR. Due to the extreme heat of the past few weeks, there is more call for power, therefor PPL is generating more releases than their usual June and July, "business as usuall" releases. Sending water through montague.
The Mongaup has been also contibuting a lot of water to Montague because of the Dam breach at Swingingbridge. That all adds up to less rivermaster calls for water.
Just a note, the mongaup river USGS gage is above swinging bridge reservoir. It tells nothing about what goes into the mainstem.
The DRBC and DEP must cooperate and allow the DEC to release water to protect the upper main stem. The DEC is caught between a rock and a hard place. Maybe an emergency meeting to get DEC more water to release by the Decree Parties. Or, since it is obvious that the amelieration bank will not be used in August since it can only be used in declared drought to offset PPL releases, maybe they can add the amelieration bank to the thermal bank.
Unless more water is alloted to DEC to use for thermal, or rivermaster calls for water from the upstream reservoirs, the mainstem is heating up big time.
Todays reservoir capacities: Cannonsville 90% Pepacton 93% Neversink 97% and the Ashoken which has almost the same amount of capacity as Neversink and Cannonsville combined, is at 98.9%
This is one more reason why flow targets, temperature targets and banks will not work. A release plan, taking out the "probability", the "what ifs" and all the other neat buzz words and getting guaranteed releases is where it has to start.
I would urge anyone who loves the Delaware System to call, email, and/or write the following people, asking them to allot more water somehow to the DEC for releases to protect the upper mainstem and at least stay in compliance with the current revision 7.
Carol Collier, Executive Director of the DRBC (a quote from her bio: [font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]"She (Ms. Collier) thinks proper management of water resources is the key to our economic and environmental future.")[/font] carol.collier@drbc.state.nj.us 609-883-9500 Ext. 200
Michel Principe, NYC Deputy Water Commission DEP go here for email: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/mail/html/maildep.html
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