Nechako To Climb Higher

Monday, June 18, 2007 12:12 PM

Residents of Vanderhoof are being advised the Nechako River will likely hit 700 cubic metres per second by Thursday. That would put it in the range of the flooding experienced in 1976.

Right now, the river is at 655cms at the Burrard Street Bridge.

Vanderhoof Mayor, Len Fox, says a number of low level areas have been sandbagged and the bags have been stacked to handle a flow of 750cms. “The one advantage we have is that we can predict when it will happen” says Fox. That ability to predict comes as a result of the Nechako being a flow controlled river.

Fox says some areas are getting wet “There have been reports of some flooded basements, but that is a groundwater issue as the water table is so high right now”.

The problem this year is that the Kenny Dam reservoir is full. The run off levels have raised the reservoir to a new 2800 foot level. Fox says Alcan had to apply for (and has since received) a permit to operate to the 2800 foot level, hoping that extra foot will give some breathing room for the heavy runoff. Problem is, there has been lots of rainfall, and while some runoff into the reservoir has decreased, the rain has topped it up.

Alcan is not able to run the excess water through the turbines to create electricity as an avalanche in the winter took out one section of the power grid, and some of the power generating turbines are not in working order. That means the water can only be released through the Skins Lake Spillway. Right now Alcan is releasing 550 cubic metres of water per second.

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Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 12:12 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: RRrabbitt on June 18 2007 3:40 PM

Hmmmmm... interesting visualization ... seems like a lot of water... I'm not that good with numbers, but 700 cms would appear to be about the same as "TWELVE" fully loaded tankers the size of the Exxon Valdez passing the bridge at Vhoof - each and every hour.

Gosh !!!

Posted by: owl on June 18 2007 4:16 PM

The Fraser is also starting to rise a bit again centimetering up to the 8 metre level since last night. Rising all the way along up to the head waters. Maybe its the rain.

Plus it is taking up the additional volume of the Nechako of course.

-----------------------------

700 cubic metres is about the volume contained in a typical College Heights house of the 1970's of 1000 square feet, including the volume of the basement, the main floor and the space within the roof trusses.

So, 60 of those per minute and 3,600 of them every hour.

Posted by: giterdun on June 18 2007 4:28 PM

RE POSTED FROM JUNE 15TH.

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION--ALCAN IS CREATING AN "ALCAN ENGINEERED SENARIO" SO AS TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT WE HAVE A HUGE POTENTIAL FLOOD PROBLEM. THIS WILL AID THEM IN REAPPROACHING AND LOBBING FOR THE CONTINUATION OF THE K2 POWER PROJECT. THIS PROJECT MUST NEVER GO AHEAD [IMO]. IT WOULD BE A TOTAL DISASTER FOR THE ENTIRE KENNY DAM RESEVOIR. THIS WATERSHED HAS BEEN RESONABLY STABLE,AS A RESULT OF WATER FLUCTUATION,FOR THE PAST 15 TO 20 YEARS. IT IS A GREAT WATERWAY AND SHOULD REMAIN TO BE, WITHOUT THE MANIPULATION OF ALCAN. LET B.C. HYDRO MANAGE IT. MAYBEE THEN THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE WATER WOULD HAVE A SAY IN ITS FUTURE. THE MAYOR SEEMS TO HAVE A SHORT MEMORY WHEN IT COMES TO ALCANS HISTORY AND ALL OF THE BROKEN PROMISES.IMO ALCAN IS ONE OF THE WORST CORPORATE CITIZENS IN B.C. BAR NONE!!!

Posted by: RUEZ on June 18 2007 6:25 PM

Try hitting your caps lock button.