“This time of year most of your boats are headed back south because they got to get out of the system,” said Bernie Brandow, St.Johnsville Marina Owner.Hmm . . . If the Mohawk Valley Water Authority was complying with its old agreement with the state, it would be contributing from its Gray Reservoir the equivalent of its entire draw from Hinckley for drinking water -- about 21 million gallons per day (MGD) based on the Water Authority's 2002 engineering report. Divide by 1.5 MGD for each lock closing and you get an extra 14 lock closings per day that would be possible if MVWA obeyed its agreement -- TIMES the 18 locks between Herkimer and the Hudson. THAT'S 252 fewer lock closings a day that can be attributed by math to MVWA's non-compliance. Sound's like a lot of inconvenience to boaters, disruption to shippers, and lost business for marinas to me!This year they have to get out even earlier. An end of season rush could mean big business for Brandow and other marinas along the Mohawk. Except for one thing, boaters aren't stopping.
“They're trying to make up time so they're not stopping at night for dockage or fuel. That's basically the hold up here,” said Brandow. . . .
The problem is every time that lock opens one point five millions gallons of water flushes down stream and needs to be replaced with water upstream at the Hinckley reservoir. That's where water is at its lowest level since 1915 when the reservoir was created.
Shhh .... Someone might get the idea that MVWA should pay! There go the rates!
(See, kids, math can be fun.)
How about some more math? The flow out of the dam is now 120 CFS and the authority is not contributing the 30 CFS it is supposed to do. Would a flow of 150CFS be enough to keep the creek open for fishing? That is more lost business for some people.
Somehow the pictures of boats lining up, empty marinas, and no fishing signs are more compelling visuals than the one Mr. Becher uses with the fish tank and shot glass to show how "insignificant" the MVWA's actions are.
8 comments:
If Gray is up stream from Hinclley then Gray flows into Hinckley. So what flows through the old dam ends up in hinckley anyways. You may be great on math but you should work on LOGIC!
Ha Ha -- But what is supposed to flow out of Gray is water retained and reserved from Spring high water times. The point of having Gray is to take water from the time of year when there is too much and use it when there is too little. . . . This is all set forth in detail in the agreement with the state.
My Theory was it was done to prove a point. That point being "I'll show them they don't have enough water for a chip plant" I understand that the infrastructure project in Saratoga County is on hold because they can't bring water to the site because of some environmental concern that would disturb some forest land.
Anyway someone needs to be held accountable for whatever the reason it was because we could have been in a world of hurt in UPSTATE
Interesting point about the Saratoga Chip Fab. I actually anticipated they would have water problems in Saratoga . Oneida County officials were advised in 2002 of Saratoga's water shortcomings, but EDGE played dead and apparently never used that information in trying to market Marcy Nanocenter. You tell me why?
There is clearly enough water for Marcy nanocenter because the useage would be within that historically used by Utica and environs. There may be a problem, however, in having both Nanocenter and the expansion to Verona. DEC raised a question on that point.
In a side note HELLO TO WIBX! This post was mentioned in this morning's program with Mr. Becher. Glad you guys are reading this blog! I remain anonymous because I want this blog to be about issues -- not me. But if you want any documentation for what I say here -- JUST ASK. I will either provide it to you, or direct you to the source!
Want to thank you for the info and insight you provide it has really been helpful. Keep up the great work.
Saratoga's water project isn't stalled, I read they're having some changes in teh financing, but its still moving forward.
Do you really think AMD didn't know about the water issue before committing to a $5 billion investment?
I'm sure they knew about it. What I'm not sure is did they know how time consuming some of these NYS permitting proceedings can be?
Anonymous got me curious . . . looks like they fast tracked the Saratoga Water Project and the 28-mile line is well under construction to Luther Forest. See this Times Union Story from September.
It's amazing what can be accomplished when one knows what they are doing!
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