River Release?

[sportyart]

I don't know if anyone has already asked and I am sorry if I am repeating, but does anyone know why they released all the water behind the pedestrian (low water) dam on the Arkansas?  I had friends in town for Octoberfest and was ashamed to see the river empty. One of the great things about the view from the west bank is how downtown reflects in the water.

[brunoflipper]

quote:Originally posted by sportyart

I don't know if anyone has already asked and I am repeating, but does anyone know why they released all the water behind the pedestrian dam on the Arkansas?  I had friends in town for Octoberfest and was ashamed to see the river empty. One of the great things about view from the west banks is how downtown reflects in the water.

that is a low water dam... it was npt "released" it just was not "filled"

[SXSW]

I was disappointed too, my out of state friends were impressed by downtown but wondered where the water was in the river.  I told them it's usually full of water north of the dam but for some reason? it wasn't at the time.  I told them maybe parts of Colorado and Kansas were dry and that not much water was moving down the river.  They were really impressed by how many condo towers Tulsa has in and around downtown.

[sendoff]

see here, http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5186

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by brunoflipper

quote:Originally posted by sportyart

I don't know if anyone has already asked and I am repeating, but does anyone know why they released all the water behind the pedestrian dam on the Arkansas?  I had friends in town for Octoberfest and was ashamed to see the river empty. One of the great things about view from the west banks is how downtown reflects in the water.

that is a low water dam... it was npt "released" it just was not "filled"

There actually are gates on the lowater dam that originlly were designed to automatically open at certain levels. They now have to be opened manually. Whether they opened them recently to release water I don't know.

[PonderInc]

Don't know about the low-water dam, but I know that most of the areas west of here are in the middle of a big drought. (Clue: these areas feed creeks that feed Keystone Lake, which feeds the Arksansas River in Tulsa.)  Farms around Stillwater have dry ponds, and ranchers have been selling off their cattle because of lack of water.  Keystone is low right now, and, as a result, so is the Arksansas River.  I wouldn't expect to see too much water being released from the dam unless we get a lot of rain in the Keystone drainage.

[sendoff]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

Don't know about the low-water dam, but I know that most of the areas west of here are in the middle of a big drought. (Clue: these areas feed creeks that feed Keystone Lake, which feeds the Arksansas River in Tulsa.)  Farms around Stillwater have dry ponds, and ranchers have been selling off their cattle because of lack of water.  Keystone is low right now, and, as a result, so is the Arksansas River.  I wouldn't expect to see too much water being released from the dam unless we get a lot of rain in the Keystone drainage.

Like PonderInc said:

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_south.htm

[carltonplace]

According to the TW today, the Keystone Dam is shut and the low water dam at Zink Lake is leaking (needs new diaphragms or flim-flams or something) and so we have no lake.

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

According to the TW today, the Keystone Dam is shut and the low water dam at Zink Lake is leaking (needs new diaphragms or flim-flams or something) and so we have no lake.

That might be a blessing. Two-three weeks of standing water would create more of a stagnant pond than a lake with a current. Anyone considered what it might be like if we had 12 miles of a stagnant lake for nearly a month at a time? Mosquitoes, dangerous organisms, islands of floating QuikTrip cups...The river has no chance to clean itself when KS shuts off the flow. Glad the World finally addressed it.

[sgrizzle]

The article:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=061025_Ne_A9_Theca34485

No matter how tall your dam is, it still doesn't make water flow. Also rings up the point that hydro wouldn't be year-round either.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by carltonplace

According to the TW today, the Keystone Dam is shut and the low water dam at Zink Lake is leaking (needs new diaphragms or flim-flams or something) and so we have no lake.

Damn dams!