Letting it go...

Post date: Oct 18, 2012 4:47:35 AM

I shot this short video last Monday morning. Opening the Feeder Check Dam gates is necessary before we close the Main Canal gates (partially visible on the right side of the video). These four large gates are 16' long and 8' tall, and were impounding 6.25' of water before we opened them. At the end of the video clip the flow through the gates is about 800 cubic feet per second, or 360,000 gallons per minute.

Before the construction of the new Check Dam in 2004, this process could take 4-5 hours for two men to accomplish. Now, with fully automated and remotely controlled river, check dam, and main canal gates, it takes on man about an hour if there are no problems (e.g. logs stuck in gates, hydraulic lines blowing out, etc., etc.).