We're here in front of
just downstream of Folsom Dam and it's has
a unique history. It was constructed by
the core back
in the 40s and 50s and turned
over to reclamation to be integrated into
the Central Valley project And it serves
A multipurpose. So, you know, its primary
function is flood control and flood managem, but it also serves for water su, navigation, wildlife,
power generation. So it it does a lot for the community around here. Well, you know, you bring
up a good point. And when these facilities were designed and constructed, they serve the purposes back th. And climate has changed, needs have changed, demands have changed and we're t building much more infrastructu, you know, like we used to. So we got to be manage
these a little bit different than we
have in the past. So one particular aspect of thas when the Core and Reclamation bt the new auxiliary spillway out , we updated the flood control diagram for Folsom Dam, which allowed a little
more flexibility to ensure public safety
for flood routing, but also permit more opportunito support the other project purpo. If you go back into
the very beginning of time on the American River, the original authorization was actually a single purpose flood control facility that the Corpss going to build under the I belie it was the 44 Flood Control Actd it was going to be 355,000 acret and it was going to be a dry ste where it would just absorb those storms and it would empty in 49. It was changed and reauthorizeda multipurpose facility and made a million acre feet and
permitted water supply and other project
purposes and power. So the Corps built the dam but Reclamation built the power plat and then Nimbus Dam downstream o facilitate those multipurpose
aspects. But the authorization was a flood control facility only. So typically in those situations when the storm and inflow came , it would fill and it would attee that peak inflow and only releae what the levees can handle. Filling it up from a
multipurpose aspect is what we want to achieve in J, right, because that's how we get untile next fall and provide water sup, threatened endangered
species support and the fisheries downstream and all those other project purpose. But you're right, during
a flood event, you want to make sure that you'e prepared for it so you
can absorb that inflow and you don't
want to fill it. Because once it's filled, you don't have much
choice other than to release what's coming in andf that exceeds it, downstream lev. That's not good for the communi. Downstream, yes, they do have g, but they're different gates. Each one has, has a little different situatio. And then Friant is another one of our CVP dams as well and they have gates up top as well. When the core design Folsom, they used what they call the project design flood, OK. And they used the preceding
50 years of period of record to
identify what that maximum flood would be
plus a little bit more to make sure it
can safely
pass it. Before the dam was constructed, they had a flood that exceeded the project design flood. And since then, we've
had five more floods that exceeded the original
design flood. So we had to adapt to that. So we went from a fixed
storage during the flood season to a variable
flood storage, which helped us out. But by the 2000s, early 2000, we found that we needed more infrastructure here to
pass those floods. So the downstream levees have a certain capacity. What would happen out here at Fm is our outlets that you see kind of halfway up the facility here, they can only release
35,000 acre feet, I mean 35,000 cubic feet per se. The downstream levees can match and release and handle 115,000. So while the reservoir was down low and absorbing that inflow, we had to wait until the reservr came up to the main spillway to match the downstream levees with the auxiliary spillway. The gates are lower. We can match those downstream levees at time 0 during a flood event and even in advance of it. So we can create storage space d Folsom to absorb more of that f. So we are more effective and wen adapt quicker based on the fore, but we can lower the
reservoir
in the winter and be adaptable to fore. And if a forecast that our operation center sees on the hon maybe three or four days out, we can actually start
making releases to make a beneficial use of that storage for the incoming flood. So it's really been a a full whe scale change in how we approachn the past we would just lower the reservoir and as the
inflow comes in, we'd look at a chart
and make releases. So now we can be a little
bit more proactive. You know the cores mission
is flood control. The rest of the project purposes are really reclamations mission. So but I look at all the
project purposes, there's there's a first among equals and that's flood managem. We have to protect the
downstream communities above all other project purpose. Once we get through
those storm events, we should be looking to those other project purposes and tryig to provide for those like water supply and power generation. So you know our managers down at our Central Valley operations, their best use in manage
of the water is to get as many of
those multipurposes for every drop of water release. So if we can get water
for threatened endangered species in the fishe, when we release, we generate power, we provide water supply and all those other projects, that's the best use
of that resource. But when it comes to
flood management, all those are out the window. We really have to focus
on public safety, but like right now we're managing for flood releases, but it's all going through
the power plant. That's why you don't see any releases out of the spillway. So we are trying to maximize
a generation of power in that way cuz we can. But if the inflow was such that it was elevated, we'd have to be releasing out of the spillway. You know we would hope now we wd have the period of record to bae a design on that is not just the the 40 years preceding the 1950 but all the way through here. And we've gotten much more dramc changes and fluctuations in weather that we would consider l those alternatives and and and and flood and hydrology aspects. Now the other thing
to think about is, Okay projecting forward
about climate change, How do we manage? And we're going to have to keep an eye on that and see how we need to adapt to adjust for tha. And it's predicted that
it'll be warmer, which means less precipitation. Well, it's not certain that it's less precipitation, but less snow and the actual peak runoff will happen earlier. So where we would have to go frm May to November to provide for l those other projects purposes, now we're going to go maybe posy by the end of the century, Apri. And that's an extra month with o more water to meet
all of the demands that we have on the American Ri. And the CVP, if we were to design
a structure now, we would have a bigger
period of record. The Coors mission is
flood management. So absolutely they would have spillways that can manage for flood control and that would be what they would design for. What is another concept that frm a dam safety perspective is you have to consider what would be e maximum flood or inflow that cod possibly happen and
from the watershed what it could possibly yield, we call that the probable
maximum flood. It's not really a flood managem, it's a dam safety issue. And that was the other purpose of the auxiliary spillway to be able to pass that huge flood. So we would need all the
gates and
the JFP, but the downstream levees woulde overtopped, but the
dam would be saved. So those are two different aspe. So that's why we have a lot of spillway release capacity. But our goal is to match
the downstream levees because we don't want to overtop those like north
of the Delta. We have Shasta, we have Trinitys well that serves the CVP as wel. And then we have Folsom. Those are our major
storage facilities and as part of the requirements and obligations we have on our CVP is when we have the water we deliver South of Delta for those customers we have down there. So absolutely our Central Valley operations right now is filling the reservoir
right now and we're about 83% full and hopefully
by June 1, we're topped out and full. And that way we can provide the agricultural water South of Dela along with Shasta this year. And it's 100% allocation, which is the first time
in in many years. So it's a good thing for the CVP and our customers, very good question And
yes, depending. So we have an obligation under e Endangered Species
Act to provide not just water for the lower
American River, but the right temperature water. So there are certain times, like in the winter, we can release out of the main spillway gates and we're fine. But as we move into
spring and summer, the warmer layer on top
of the reservoir is not conducive to
the life cycle of the species in the lower
American River. And we have to go to the JFP, which is colder water if we had to make releases. Right now we make all
of our releases as I mentioned if we can out ofe power plant and in there we have a selective withdrawal that alws matches what the species needs r temperature to the extent
that we can. Well you know Folsom is a relaty small facility compared
to the watershed. I mean we passed through more than the storage in Folsom on average in any given year. So I like to think that
Folsom is the, the little dam that could and it really has been asked to do a lot as we have evolved since it was constructed in this mid 50s. Where do we get to that point we we can ask no more of it probaby we're getting close to that, but we're still looking
at ways that we can make and gain efficiencies
and usually that's out of the water
control manual. It's sort of the software. The hardware has been built andw it's how do we work the softwarn how we route things and consider forecasting to ensure
certainty because we need to be certain if we're g to go in that and take
that next step. We need to be certain
that we're
not going to be wrong and fill
the reservoir we didn't want to and put
the public
at risk. So we're always going to be conservative in that aspect. But I think there are
a little bit more that we can do to find efficien. The Corps has a project
right now
and they already started a year
or so ago on unraise. So the Corps has authorization to raise Folsom Dam 3 feet. So they're they're they
just awarded one of the contracts or another
contract and basically what that
entails is raising all the 8* the Right Wing Dam, the Left Wing Dam and Mormon Island Dam over on Green Valley. 3 1/2 feet. And that provides some
added benefit. But we're the main benefit
we're going to see is they're going
to replace all 8 gates right here and it's goio be taller on the top end to alls to store more water for
those flood events. So. So that's going to be an add benefit for flood management, but not any of the other purpos. It's dry rays, it's only for flood management. No, they're going to sequence them o replace them over the
next five years, six years starting probably
later this year. The reality is, is as a water manager, you want to be able to serve yor customers right and you want toe able to fill the reservoir all e time so you can provide benefits to those project purposes. But the reality is, is in that you got to
balance the the, the needs for public safety, for flood control. And that's what people see often is we're in a drought and we gea certain condition on the watersd that per the prescriptive measus that the core provides us, we have to make releases. And it doesn't look good. You're telling us to conserve w, but you're making releases. And we understand that that is n optic issue, but it's
public safety's #1. We have to make sure that we fow the cores prescriptive requirems for flood management. For whatever reason, we found ourselves in a conditin where the reservoir
was really empty. You know, our intake for what we call the municipal and industrial intake that serves San Juan, Roseville, Folsom, the prison here, we wouldn't be able to deliver y water to them because the reserr would be below any water would e below their intake. So that's not a good
situation to
be in. Plus any releases that we had we able to make from inflows
would almost certainly have to be dedicated o threaten endangered
species downstream. So we would never want to be in that position. If this was a single purpose water supply facility, we would keep it as high as we could all the time and we wouldt worry about flood management. But that's just not the
situation we're in. We that's why it's it's a challe from the public's perspective
and even the operators to to to to balane all those needs with our reserv. What, what we also have an eye s what if next year is
as bad as this year, right, or worse or serious
as far as drought? And if we don't carry over a cen amount of water to prepare
for next year, we're not going to have any watr to supply at all for the next y. So we do have to focus on what's happening this year, but we also have an
eye on how
are we going to carry over enough wated hedge our bets for the next yead what kind of conditions
they're going
to be. And if they're drought, we would really be in a bad situation if we emptied
the reservoir and had nothing the next year. So we just really can't go there basically from Folsom
El Dorado Hills to Granite Bay out to Sacrament, pretty much everybody who gets service water is served by Folsm either directly or indirectly. So that's huge, over
1,000,000 people, but other project purpose is the state parks here it serves wellr 1,000,000 people up to 2,000,00d it's entity that I've
heard anecdotally that it teeters with the Hearst Castle on most visited state pa. So we serve a lot of people froa recreation and they like to seee reservoir high for the boating d the enjoyment for the
public as well. So that's another project purpoe that we have to manage for as w. One one question that
we often
get is especially in a flood
year like we're having where we're releasing war because we have nowhere to stor. It wouldn't be good
to have additional storage that we can move water . So there are four other projectn development and various
stages of that where reclamation would likely e an interest there to
be part of
to be able to divert water
in times of excess. So when we have a drought year, we have that water that can be d for whatever we we feel that is most important whether it be dea obligations and stream fisherier water supply or any
other project need that we might have maybe 30 yea. I mean, some of them are pretty pricey, but it does take a little longer to go through all the requiremes that you have before you can rey like move dirt and construct
a facility like this and a lot more permits
that you
had to get back in the 50s and
things like that. So I think they're
in various stages. I don't think that there's
anything pending construction in the next
couple of years, but I think we're getting closeo what what I think the most impot thing is formulating the projec. What are the benefits that they're going to get out of it, Who gets those and how does it, how's it going to work. So we have what is we have two acts that are recent, one is the bipartisan infrastrue law bill and then the anti no, the inflation reduction act, OK. Between those, there are opportunities to prove substantial funding for storage projects and other conveyance
projects, groundwater support. So in each one of those, and especially the bill, they had sections for funding and some of them are directed to communities that are disadvanta, some are for groundwater, some of the pot of money. But overall it's $8.3 billion to provide to areas within
the West that Reclamation is responsible
for and works in. So as I said in Bill, there's categories, one of the larger categories is aging infrastructure and in that for our facilities, they're looking to bring those. I mean some of them
are over 100 years old and have had some maintenane and repairs over the years, but could really use an overhau. So at so the the the California Great Basin region to date out f the bill has received over $700 million which is great you know and we're going to put that to . Some of that is like if you are aware of BF Sisk our our thank you San Luis reservoir for the Dam safety project. So that's about a billion dollas that we're going to have to invt to bring that up to a public say level that meets our guidelines. There is a project that consides raising San Luis to
provide additional benefits and that's still in the works and that's one of those fr storage projects that
we talked about. But the dam safety is just ensug that the structure is safe for e public and meets our guidelines. So the evolution was in the winter we would lower the reservoir down a certain
amount and what our goal was and what was prescd by the Corps of Engineers is to provide 400,000 acre
feet of storage. That was way back in the day. If you're at that storage, the gates are just a little higher than where we would have to lower that in the winter. But after we had the 86 flood and the 97 floods, we had to rethink that and we made a determination at 400,000 was not enough storage in Folso. So we created a variable storage that would lower it even furthe. Now we're pretty low
in the reservoir. This was as of about 6-7 years . And now it's not efficient becae we're so far from those gates. It's exactly how you explain the flood would come in. We would have to wait
for the reservoir to come up and it wasn't
very efficient. So we said, all right, how do we make releases instanty at that lower level? And that's when we built the auxiliary spillway. And now we have a pretty
efficient system out here at Folsom in
the early 2000s. The core and us put our heads together to come up with all rit you have a flood management mis, we have a dam safety missions. If we were going to invest
in infrastructure, what would it look like to meet both of our needs? And so the designers put their heads together and came up with the JFP or the auxiliary spillw. So it serves our dam safety needs for reclamation, and it also makes it much more efficient to route floods. What we struggle with
on the American River is providing enough cold r pool out of our facility here fr the species in the lower Americn River throughout their life cyc. In other words, from spring all the way to fall. And they're spawning in the spawning life cycle. So additional storage, if it could keep cool
cold water
and we could provide additional
cold water support, that would definitely
help our operations. So it would also help if we had additional storage upstream to provide water supply and power. So those would be utilized
to the extent that we could for project purpo. We have to have that
balanced approach. We we want to serve the farmers. There's no doubt about it. That's our mission. That's why we built the facilit. But we also have an obligation r the threatened Endangered Specis Act to ensure that the the specs downstream have a good habitat to go through their life cycle. So it is always a challenge, but it's a reality
of how we operate. The CVP, the only other statement that I had in a lot of the concepts tht we've been talking about at Folm are superly to a dramatic level, are playing out out of
our Friant facility. Friant Dam, the snowpack down South
is just amazing. It's, it's historical
and where I mentioned that you know we could
get about twice the storage of runoff
through Folsom. They're going to have
like 5* 6
times the storage going through Friant
and it's
a very, it's only half the size of Fols. So they are really challenged
this year, but they have a great
team and they've developed a good plan to provide safety for the downstream publi. They've almost emptied the reser and preparing for this huge snowpack that's coming their wa. And what we have an
advantage at Shasta at Folsom is we have a levee sym downstream that can pass a larg, a large flow. They don't have that. So they have to rely on storage and metering that water out and they're really doing a great jo. And part of that is they have better certainty on the snowpack and the water content because of the ASO and the other snow surv, surveys that have occurred. They put them all together and t just builds their toolbox
so they can predict what's coming down the . So they're doing a great
job down there, but it is much more challengingn it is right here at
Folsom this year. Yeah, it was originally designed predominantly for flood managem, but I think what's developed ist hydrology has changed
so much that what they thought would work has turd out to not be as efficient
as we thought, which is why we ended
up with the JFP. And the concept is absolutely r. If if we lower the water even ey it in advance of the flood seas, we're not going to gain as much efficiency because of
the old structure because we have to wait until it gets all the way up to the top. So we don't get that
added efficiencies that you would if you can releae immediately And that's where thu get all that benefit from the J. We went from what the Corps was mentioning prior to the construn of the the the auxiliary spillwy 88 year protection for the city of Sacramento without that thats where we that's and it and if af you remember that's Katrina lev, things are less than Katrina. And now with the the auxiliary spillway we're approaching about the mid 200 year protection. So we really got a lot of beneft from the auxiliary spillway
for public safety when when it was reauthod to make it a million acre feet, the core built the dam
and our pumping plant right here and we
built the pumping, the power plant and
Nimbus because the power wasn't part of the
original authority, it was only when it was
reauthorized
and then we went ahead and built
those facilities. Yeah, Oh yeah, those, those were approved
and signed
by our regional director in in
in summer
of 2019, Okay. So you're you have the new flexibility now we do Okay. I don't, they're not done with all of thm though yet, are they?
No. And I would, I would for the benefit of the , it would be Firo small
case because I know that there's a
a lot of where it definitely utilizes the
concept of forecast, inform reservoir operations, Ok. But I would keep it lower case d not you know what everybody says moving forward, where do we go? I'm
