What do we mean by good water? If we didn’t need low water for dam and batter boards repairs, we’d say we have pretty good water for power production today – especially since most of our batter boards (or doors) are down. We have about 8,000 cfs in the river, which would be too much if we had the boards up (we’d be worried about them getting knocked down again) but is a-okay since they are almost all down anyway.
What we really need right now though is low water – in the 2,000 cfs and below range. We are waiting for the water to come down so we can make some long-awaited repairs to the dam and our boards. We haven’t been able to get out on the dam to do any serious work since April of 2007. The water’s just been too high. Once this water comes down then the City can get out there to do repairs on the dam (the City depends on the dam for their water intakes) and we can replace all the boards that have been ripped off the dam since April of ’07. My Dad always says, “God and the Corps deal the cards, we just play the hand.” We are hopeful for extended sun and relatively warm weather so we can get this work done before winter sets in.