[Awclist] AWC on the Gila - good article of explanation, summary, conclusions from Norm Gaume's engineering perspective tonight!

[R/C Southwick]

We will see you all TONIGHT!

Norm requested this be posted.

 

This article (link) or posted below is from the ABQJournal - staff writer:
John Fleck

Explanation, summary, and conclusions from Norm Gaume's professional
engineering perspective.

He will be at the AWC meeting tonight.

For your perusal before or after the presentation.

 

If you can go to the Senate Conservation Committee in Santa Fe at the Round
House this Thursday February 13, 2014

Be there by 2pm

Actual time that the Gila SB 89 comes up could be up to 2 hours later...a
variable of many things

 

 

 

http://www.abqjournal.com/351165/news/water-expert-gila-diversion-fatally-fl
awed.html

 

Gila River diversion plan 'fatally flawed,' water expert says

*	Science  <http://www.abqjournal.com/category/news/science> & Water

By John Fleck / Journal Staff Writer
<http://www.abqjournal.com/author/jfleck>  | 13 hours ago 

Posted: 12:05 am

............................................................................
............................................................................
................................

 
<http://www.abqjournal.com/351165/news/water-expert-gila-diversion-fatally-f
lawed.html/attachment/gila-river-5#main> Gila River

A proposal to divert water from the Gila River in southwest New Mexico
underestimates the cost and overestimates the water available, the former
head of the New Mexico state agency considering the idea says. (Jim
Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)

 

Copyright C 2014 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico is overestimating the amount of water available from a proposed
Gila River diversion and underestimating the cost and technical difficulty
of the project, according to the former head of the state agency involved.

 
<http://www.abqjournal.com/351165/news/water-expert-gila-diversion-fatally-f
lawed.html/attachment/c01_jd_11feb_gaumemug#main> Norm Gaume

GUAME: Sediments interfere with river diversions

The project, as currently formulated, is "fatally flawed," former New Mexico
Interstate Stream Commission head Norm Gaume said in an interview Monday.

The Interstate Stream Commission, the agency Gaume headed from 1997 to 2002,
must decide by the end of the year whether to proceed with a possible water
project that would take water out of the Gila, possibly with a small dam,
for farm or city use somewhere in southwest New Mexico. A state-funded
analysis published in January estimated the cost of the project at between
$280 million and $469 million.

Gaume, appointed by Republican Gov. Gary Johnson to head the Interstate
Stream Commission, said that after reviewing the project study he is
convinced that the cost is likely to be far higher. Gaume is scheduled to
testify Thursday before the Senate Conservation Committee, which is
considering legislation related to the project.

A spokeswoman for the Interstate Stream Commission declined comment.

Gaume noted that two similar projects on the Rio Grande, one by Albuquerque
and one by Santa Fe, ended up costing far more than their original
estimates. Gaume said the Gila project, as currently envisioned, is likely
to run into the same difficulties.

Albuquerque's San Juan-Chama Project cost rose from an intial $180 million
estimate to $500 million. Santa Fe's Buckman Direct Diversion, a project on
which Gaume worked after leaving the Interstate Stream Commission in 2002,
rose from an initial estimate of $99 million to about $235 million.

One problem that has plagued both the Santa Fe and Albuquerque projects,
Gaume said, is sediments, which clog up intake and water pumping systems and
are expensive to remove. The Gila diversion is likely to face the same
problem, he argued.

"That sediment is going to plug the pipeline," Gaume said. "There's no
question about it." Installing systems to manage the sediment are sure to
drive up the project's cost beyond current estimates, he said.

The proposed Gila project would be partially funded with $100 million in
federal money authorized by Congress in 2004 as part of a deal settling
water rights claims in Arizona and New Mexico. As the clock ticks toward a
December deadline for the state to decide how to spend the money, a battle
is growing between those intent on preserving the river and those who
believe the water should be developed for use in southwest New Mexico
communities.

In addition to concerns about cost and silt, Gaume said that the state has
not adequately factored in evaporation and seepage from reservoirs to be
built to store water to be diverted from the river under the proposal.

 

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/awclist/attachments/20140211/7026c62a/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 40771 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/awclist/attachments/20140211/7026c62a/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 163652 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/awclist/attachments/20140211/7026c62a/attachment-0003.jpg>