Repaired Fern Ridge Dam holds water well in storms.Byline: The Register-Guard Repairs to Fern Ridge Dam got a heck of a test this past week - and passed with flying colors Noun 1. flying colors - complete success; "they passed inspection with flying colors" flying colours success - an attainment that is successful; "his success in the marathon was unexpected"; "his new play was a great success" , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Barely a month after completion of repairs to its internal drainage system Noun 1. drainage system - a system of watercourses or drains for carrying off excess water system - instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity; "he bought a new stereo system"; "the system consists of a , the 65-year-old dam was holding back more winter water than it had contained since 1996, said Erik Petersen, director of operations for the corps' Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley (pronounced [wɪˈlæ.mɪt], with the accent on the second syllable) is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that surrounds the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its projects. The water elevation of Fern Ridge Lake stood at 371.1 feet just past midnight Tuesday, he said. That's only 2 feet shy of the target summertime elevation of 373.5 feet. "Readings from more than 80 different instruments installed in the dam looked good," said Rich Hannon, lead geotechnical engineer of the $22 million project. Devices measuring water levels in the dam's foundation and 12 weirs installed to replace the failing internal drainage system showed the dam to be functioning "quite well," he said. Ten other reservoirs in the Willamette Valley also operated as designed to minimize downstream flooding, the officials said. Without them, water from the week's storms would have sent the Willamette River Willamette River River, northwestern Oregon, U.S. It flows north for 300 mi (485 km) into the Columbia River near Portland. Oregon's most populous cities are in its valley. The Fremont Bridge, a steel arch with a main span of 1,225 ft (373 m), crosses the river at Portland. flowing through Salem at an estimated 260,000 cubic feet per second A cubic foot per second (also cfs, cusec and ft³/s) is an Imperial unit / U.S. customary unit volumetric flow rate, which is equivalent to a volume of 1 cubic foot flowing every second. - more than the flow during the damaging floods of 1996. Thanks to the dams, the river reached only 141,000 cubic feet per second, said Julie Ammann of the corps' Reservoir Control Center. Fern Ridge and Dorena lakes experienced particularly heavy flows over the past week. They filled to about 85 percent and 80 percent of capacity, respectively, compared with a systemwide average of 52 percent. "We will be watching both Dorena and Fern Ridge closely and releasing as much water as possible to free up storage space for future storms," said Brad Bird of the Corps' Reservoir Regulation Section. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion