FYI,
Odd that there is no back-up generator – Moderator
Power outages disable Coyote Valley Dam
LAURA NORTON, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 9:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 9:13 a.m.
A seven-hour power outage near Ukiah Tuesday night disabled the
Coyote Valley Dam at Lake Mendocino, dropping Russian River water
levels overnight.
The worst occurred over a 40- to 45-minute time period while the dam
was operated manually. Water outputs from the dam dropped from 116
cubic feet per second to about 25 cfs, or, in layman’s terms, about a
tenth of an inch, said Brad Sherwood, spokesman for the Sonoma County
Water Agency.
While that may not sound like much, it is enough to strand fish and
wildlife, resulting in deaths, Sherwood said. None have been reported.
The City of Ukiah, which operates the area’s utilities, said
equipment failure caused the 9:39 p.m. outage that cut power to the
dam as well as 1,052 customers. Power was restored to the majority of
customers by 1:30 a.m., but some remained without electricity until
4:30 a.m.
Water agency biologists monitored the river Wednesday for signs that
the dip in water level affected local wildlife. There were no reports
of damage.
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