Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/25/2015 19:16 -0400
Following our exposure of the plunge in Lake Mead water levels post Friday’s earthquake, officials were quick to point out that the drop was “due to erroneous meter readings” – which in itself is odd given we have not seen such an aberration before in the measurements. The data today shows a super surge in the Lake Mead water level – which, even more mysteriously, indicates from pre-earthquake to now, the Lake has risen by the most in a 3-day-period in years (as long as we have found history). How was this level ‘manufactured’ you ask? Simple – discharge flows from the Hoover Dam were curtailed dramatically. We are sure there is a simple explanation for all this…
Yesterday we noted the plunge in Lake Mead water levels…
Officials said – do not worry, the readings are faulty…
Lake Mead’s elevation has NOT dropped to 1,068 feet. Some inaccurate data was posted online. We are at 1,077 feet. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/hourly.html …
Which resulted in this miracle…
The biggest 3-day net surge in water levels (0.7 feet from Thursday to Sunday) on recent record…
How was this miracle achieved (given the general lack of precipitation)? Were discharge levels curtailed drastically?
Nope – nothing odd here at all…
So what exactly is going at Lake Mead?
Charts: Zero Hedge, LakeMead.water-data.com
I doubt Lake Meade could lose 8′ of water without sloshing up the rim. Of course, lubricating an earthquake fault is not a good thing if it is true.
Maybe it will all turn up in Baja and they will get all the water the US has cheated them out of all these years.
Maybe, San Diego should have built that desalinization plant Nevada was willing to pay for if San Diego would give up some of it Colorado river water draw. .
The should just shut off the outflow completely for a few months. Lake Mead would fill right up.
I’d kinds like to see an earthquake that lowered the lake bottom by a hundred feet or so. The “oh fuck” look on everyone’s faces would be priceless.
Yes, I’m a sick and twisted bastard.
kinds=kinda
IS,
I remember reading one geologist’s theory that you see lots of little earthquakes along the edges of fault lines right before you have a massive earthquake, because they move easier and it serves to concentrate the energy. If he’s right, you may get to see carnage and chaos soon.
-A fellow sadistic fucker
Bambam–Fracking, forcing water and chemicals into the ground to squeeze every last drop of oil out has proven to be the source of many small earthquakes in the current fracking areas.
Gov Jerry Brown has rationed water in California for everyone but Frackers as I have been told. You have to have brains made out of spaghetti to allow fracking in California. California, the fault capital of the world, resting on the Pacific Rim, just waiting for a slippery water chemical mix to lubricate the fault lines.
God help us all.
Homer,
I would bet his theory would still be mostly true. The stress released from there would probably be concentrated elsewhere. So maybe fracking just speeds up the big one?
I have not yet looked into this, but it could be that water is being retained in the reservoir to assure that there is enough “hydraulic head” for the dam to produce power.
While Las Vegas has only a junior claim on the water from Lake Mead (Los Angeles and CA in general have the senior claim), Las Vegas is totally reliant upon Hoover Dam for its electricity.
And if you do not have enough hydraulic head at your dam, which is enough water dropping with enough force, you do not generate the power you built the dam to get. That is the main reason for a high dam, where a low one (under 200′) would do for water storage and flood control.
hydraulic head?? From a gal named Bubbles?
Sounds like fun. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
Stucky, my luv, where did you get “Bubbles”?
Not complaining, just asking.
@Chicago – Yes, the height is needed for head, but no energy is released without it falling. Yes, you are screwed if the water level is too low, but you are equally screwed if you simply hold it at the correct height w/o flow.
Hydraulic head or head pressure, is simply a convenient way to measure the potential energy (or pressure) of a fluid. Since the density of water can be considered a constant, as can gravitational acceleration, the only factor in the potential energy/unit volume equation (Energy= is the height. When the water falls, potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, which turns turbines which produce electricity.
OK. physics lesson over.
“Bubbles” – does she have high-speed DSL?
Might have something to do with plentiful rain and snow in the Upper Colorado River Basin in late April and all of May. Nah, can’t be that sample, so let’s pull something weird out of our ass and blame it on a fucking nonexistent earthquake that no one felt. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Thanks, DRUD, that is how I have understood it to work.
If the water falls below a certain level, like below the penstock intakes, the dam can produce almost no power, a condition known as “dead pool”.
Worse, air bubbles can form in the turbines as the water level in the reservoir drops, causing them damage that could result in the plant being effectively wrecked for power generation. Replacing those immense turbines is ungodly costly.
The whole situation out there reminds one of how brittle and fragile are the huge systems on which people rely for day to day life. You have to wonder how long we will be able to keep the water reclamation structure out west functioning as fossil fuel supplies go into deeper decline.
@Chicago – Did a quick Google search and Holy Shit! The Hoover dam can produce over 2000 MegaWatts continuously and 4 billion KWH of electricity per year. The maximum head is 590 ft and minimum is 420ft. Average = 530ft.
http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/powerfaq.html
So, let’s take the maximum power number 2080 MW=2080000kW, 590ft=180 meters, density of water is 1000kg/m^3, g= 9.81m/s^2 and large hydroelectric turbines operate at a staggering 95% efficiency—->
~1240 cubic meters/ second flow, whcih is over 43000 cubic feet per second, much higher than any number on the chart. At 2300 ft^3/sec and 420 feet of head, power output would be more like 77 MegaWatts, or ~4% capacity. To say nothing of the possible damage to turbines if the level gets too low.