from the
Albuquerque Area Office

Alburquerque Area Office Engineer Ann Demint wins Reclamation Project Manager of the Year

By Upper Colorado Basin Public Affairs

Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation recognized Upper Colorado Basin Civil Engineer Ann Demint from the Alburquerque Area Office as Reclamation's Project Manager of the Year at a virtual ceremony.

The award reinforces the importance of project management for Reclamation's mission of delivering water and electricity to the Western United States.

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"Ann's work exemplifies a dedication to Reclamation's mission and represents the robust project management approach that we are committed to providing," said Deputy Commissioner for Operations David Palumbo. "Congratulations to Ann Demint on this recognition of her professional excellence."

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Reclamation is honoring Ann for her management of projects within the Upper Colorado Basin Region in support of the Middle Rio Grande River Maintenance Program.

Ann began her career with the Albuquerque Area Office in 2012 and is currently assigned highly complex projects supporting water management in the West. She is known by colleagues as a knowledgeable mentor, a strong leader and for working collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure project success.

Ann is the project manager for a large number of river maintenance projects and activities, which are part of the Middle Rio Grande Project in New Mexico. In addition to managing individual projects (many of which are highly technical and complex), Ann coordinates the entire MRG River Maintenance Program, and all construction work performed by the Socorro Field Division. The program provides for effective water and sediment transport and protection of riverside facilities along more than 250 miles of the Rio Grande in New Mexico with an annual budget of over $10 million.

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"The quality and type of project management Ann provides on a daily basis is unmatched," said Leann Woodruff, Facility Management Division Manager/Ann's Supervisor. "She manages the Middle Rio Grande River Maintenance Program, which includes a variety of water delivery and infrastructure protection projects, incorporating environmental components for truly multi-benefit projects. Ann does all of this and still finds time to assist and train new project managers to ensure our projects are successful in meeting Reclamation's critical mission needs."

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This year, Ann has developed charters, established teams, and ensured tracking for multiple river maintenance projects including, but not limited to, Sandia RM 202.2 Phase II, Santa Ana RM 205.8, Corrales RM 199, Los Lunas RM 163, and Truth or Consequences Channel maintenance. Each of these projects has complex and unique set of physical, environmental, and political circumstances that requires understanding of the policies and procedures that are vital components of project success. The teams she has established and led include a broad range of technical specialists such as engineers, construction experts, and environmental subject matter experts.

Reclamation's award announcement coincided with International Project Management Day Nov. 3, a designated occasion to encourage project-based organizations like Reclamation to demonstrate appreciation for the achievements of project managers and their teams.

Reclamation also recognized four other nominees for the Project Manager of the Year Award. They are:

• Columbia-Pacific Northwest: Brian Clark
• Lower Colorado Basin: Andrea Finnegan
• Missouri Basin/Arkansas, Rio Grande and Texas Gulf: Thomas Moritz
• California-Great Basin: David Klipp

Be sure to congratulate Ann on her award the next time you see her!

from the
Power Office

Glen Canyon Field Division begins work to ensure water delivery to the city of Page and the Navajo Nation

By Lori Heibult

The city of Page, Arizona, was established in 1957 for workers who were constructing Glen Canyon Dam. Through a 1975 agreement, the dam still delivers raw water from Lake Powell to the Page's municipal water system which, in turn, delivers water to area residents, including the neighboring LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.

This water delivery system currently draws in water from Lake Powell from two intakes: 1) the main intake at a reservoir elevation of 3,480 feet, and 2) from taps into the penstocks on generator units 7 and 8 in the Glen Canyon Powerplant at elevation 3,462 feet.

Because of Lake Powell's historically low water levels due to persisting drought and low run-off conditions, there was growing concern that the lake's elevation could drop below the second intake, threatening the water supply for the nearly 7,500 residents and more than 2 million tourists that visit each year.

"We initially realized the potential need to modify the delivery process as the 24 Month Studies revealed the potential drop in elevation below 3,490 feet by June 2023," said Deputy Power Manager Bob Martin. "Our engineers with our crews looked at a number of possible options and we are pleased that we were able to come up with a relatively easy solution to a potentially large problem for people who rely on this water source."

The endeavor to intake water from a lower elevation will be accomplished through an extension of the original water agreement with the city of Page. The city provided staff at Glen Canyon Dam with supplies and will pay for the labor to connect the water supply line to the river outlet works, approximately 100 feet lower than the penstock intake elevation.

This operations and maintenance work will be accomplished by the installation of a fabricated manifold that will connect two outlet works pipes to the current 12-inch header pipe that delivers raw water to the city. Glen Canyon personnel began work in October and should have the work completed in December (the timeline accounts for a 2–3-week hiatus to accommodate other planned O&M work).

Lake Powell's current elevation is 3,529 feet – down approximately 16 feet from this same time last year – and will continue to decrease until the 2023 spring runoff starts.

"Reclamation is committed to the collaboration with the city to ensure water for the residents and visitors of the area," said Martin. "We live and work here in the community too, and we will continue to be good neighbors and stewards of this most important resource."

from the
Provo Area Office

Piping the Steinaker Service Canal

By Chris Watt, Upper Colorado Basin Public Affairs

The pipe dreams of the Steinaker Service Canal in eastern Utah are finally coming true.

When irrigation systems were originally set up in the West, open canals were the best way to move water using the limited resources available at the time. As technology and access to resources has improved, more and more open service canals are being replaced with high-pressure, enclosed pipelines.

Since construction was completed in 1961, the Steinaker Service Canal has delivered water from Steinaker Reservoir to project lands in Ashley Valley, in northeastern Utah.

According to Supervisory Civil Engineer of the Provo Area Office Field Engineering Division Spencer Strand, "The Uintah Water Conservancy District is enclosing the Steinaker Service Canal in order to reduce water losses due to seepage into canal banks and to improve operations by automating the pipeline."

Running approximately 12 miles from Steinaker Dam, the service canal loses approximately 5,000 acre feet of water every year, accounting for about 25% of releases from the reservoir.

In the early 2010's, the Uintah Water Conservancy District undertook a study to improve the efficiency of the Service Canal, eventually deciding to enclose the existing open canal in a pressurized pipe. In addition to eliminating seepage losses, the pipe would improve efficiencies by providing automated deliveries of pressurized irrigation water to end users.

Due to funding limitations, the district decided to construct the pipeline in phases, or reaches, beginning at the end of the canal farthest from the dam. Reach 1 was constructed in 2017 and 2018, comprising the installation of approximately three miles of pipe. The construction contract for Reaches 2 and 3A (comprising another three miles of pipe) was awarded in June 2022.

"They have already piped 3 miles of the canal," explained Strand. "This project will pipe almost 3 more miles. The entire canal is 12 miles long, so there will be 6 miles left un-piped. That portion will be piped in the future, based on the availability of funds. Eventually, the entire canal will be piped right up to Steinaker Dam and the outlet will be converted from a gravity flow pipe to a pressurized outlet so the entire pipe will be pressurized."

What makes this project unique is the size of the pipe they are using to replace the canal. At 84 inches (7 feet) in diameter, the new Steinaker service pipeline is currently the largest diameter HDPE (high-density polyethylene) high-pressure water pipes in the nation. Each 53-foot-long section of pipe weighs 16,500 pounds and each section is trucked to the project site one at a time. The sections are then fused together on site using fusing machines specifically designed to work with HDPE pipes of that diameter or larger.

With the completion of Reaches 2 and 3A, half of the service canal will be enclosed in pipe. This contract will be substantially complete in April 2023 with final completion scheduled for November 2023.

What lies beneath
Reclamation conducts bathymetric survey around Flaming Gorge boat ramps, marinas

By Chris Watt, Upper Colorado Basin Public Affairs

Reclamation scientists and engineers recently conducted a bathymetric survey of the bottom of Flaming Gorge Reservoir, specifically around the boat ramps and marinas to better understand at what elevation they would be inoperable.

Flaming Gorge Reservoir has less water delivery requirements than other dams in the Colorado River Storage Project system, so it often has more water in storage than other Reclamation facilities in the same river system. Because of that, Flaming Gorge Reservoir has played a crucial role in drought response operations in the Colorado River Basin, sending supplemental water to Lake Powell to help boost that reservoir's critically low elevation. Approximately 125,000 acre-feet of water was delivered from Flaming Gorge to Lake Powell in 2021, and an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water is being delivered this operational year (May 2022 – April 2023).

As a result of these supplemental water deliveries, combined with below average snowfall and lower runoff conditions, Flaming Gorge Reservoir's elevation has dropped to its lowest levels since 2004.

For the first time since the reservoir's filling, Reclamation officials have had to consider possible closures of boat ramps for safety reasons when the reservoir surface elevation drops below an entire boat ramp.

But first, they needed to have a better understanding of how deep each boat ramp reaches. After reviewing the records from previous bathymetric surveys and maps of the reservoir, it was determined that there was not enough detailed data to gauge the current depths of the lower ends of the reservoir's boat ramps. Even though a Bathymetric survey of the entire reservoir was completed in 2019, this survey did not include enough detail around the marinas and boat ramps since it was focused on the entire body of water. Since Flaming Gorge Reservoir is such a large lake, surveys, such as the one completed in 2019, were done with much less detail. Consequently, the 2022 bathymetric survey was proposed and approved to specifically focus on the areas around the boat ramps and marinas in more detail.

A team from the Provo Area Office executed the survey at the reservoir over three days in June 2022.

"The initial findings showed a much clearer picture of most of the boat ramps," said Gary Henrie, a civil engineer with the Operations and Emergency Management Group of the Provo Area Office Resource Management Division. "However, some of the ramps were harder to define than others."

Henrie explained that some of the digital mapping revealed very clear edges to the boat ramps under the water. Other boat ramp edges were harder to make out, but the data from this survey was still more clear than the records from previous surveys.

The survey equipment the scientists operated this time was limited to using sonar to determine only the basic shapes and depth of the bottom. Therefore, it was not possible in this survey to determine the makeup of the materials that reflected the sound waves back up to the survey boat. Sonar-based equipment does exist that can determine minute details, including how much sediment is gathered on the "true bottom," but that kind of data was not required for this survey.

"In other words, our sonar cannot tell if something is mud, rock or concrete," said Henrie. "However, looking at the resulting digital topography, man-made objects can often be identified by their unnatural shapes, such as the square, submerged end of a concrete boat ramp."

Despite the possible uncertainties this type of data can provide, this bathymetric survey has given Reclamation a more accurate understanding of which boat ramps will be affected first by lower water surface elevations in the future.

The only dock that is projected to be impacted in water year 2023 is the Anvil Draw Boat Launch Area, becoming inoperable once the reservoir drops below 6,011 feet (which as of Nov. 7, 2022, it was less than half an inch from that mark).

Flaming Gorge's elevation is expected to continue to decline throughout the fall and winter months, temporarily dropping to an elevation of around 6,008 feet until spring runoff begins.

Current Flaming Gorge Reservoir elevations can be found here: Flaming Gorge Reservoir

What is a bathymetric survey?

A bathymetric survey is a process of understanding the depth and shape of the bottom of a body of water using sonic, or sound-based, equipment from a boat. This information is important to boaters who want to avoid navigational hazards as well as providing scientists and water managers insight into any sediment status or other changes that to the bottom of a lake.

Once on the water, scientists use an echosounder to send a signal, or sound wave, from a sonar transducer interface, submerged from a boat, a few feet below the water surface. The sound wave then echoes or bounces off the bottom and back up to the transducer.

The amount of time between when the signal is sent and when it returns is then recorded, and the distance from the surface to the bottom is calculated using the formula for the speed of sound under water. As the different distance data points are combined, it forms a sonic-based digital map that shows scientists the topography of the bottom of the lake. Combined with a GPS receiver, the topography is tied to actual locations on a map, which allows mapmakers to make navigational charts that show possible navigational hazards under the water.

In the most recent bathymetric survey at Flaming Gorge, Reclamation officials focused on just the areas around the boat ramps and the marinas.

from the
Western Colorado Area Office

Fish Passage at the Arizona Public Service Diversion Dam

By Justyn Liff, Western Colorado Area Public Affairs

The Western Colorado Area Office is evaluating alternatives that would allow for fish passage at the Arizona Public Service (APS) Diversion Dam located near Farmington, New Mexico. The diversion dam was constructed in the 1960's to facilitate pumping water from the San Juan River to Morgan Lake. The lake is used as a source of cooling water for APS Four Corners Power Plant. Construction of dams and other features in rivers have reduced historical native fish habitat by altering the natural river flow and inhibiting upstream migration for spawning.

Reclamation is a partner in the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program and the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The Programs' goals are to recover endangered fish and conserve their habitats in the Upper Colorado River Basin while water use, and development continue.

As a project partner, Reclamation's Western Colorado Area Office (WCAO) is in the feasibility stage of identifying alternatives that would retrofit the diversion dam and allow upstream migration of native fish, including the endangered Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker. As the WCAO researches possible fish passage alternatives, there are four primary goals:

1. Improve passage of juvenile and adult Colorado pikeminnow and razorback sucker
2. Increase the ability for fish to use the passage at both high and low river flows
3. Provide fish passage without interfering with APS water pumping operations
4. Minimize construction impacts to APS water pumping and sluiceway (channel and gate used to pass sediment through the diversion dam) operations

The WCAO plans to have options available for public review and comment in summer of 2023. Additional information about the Recovery Programs can be found at: coloradoriverrecovery.org

from the
Four Corners Construction Office

How communities will get water from the NGWSP Pipeline

By Hubert Quintana, Four Corners Construction Office

Do you ever wonder how the water will get from the pipeline to the communities and individual homes?

The San Juan Lateral is shown in the picture above with the various "turnout" locations labeled. A "turnout" is the designated location in the main pipeline where each community's water distribution system will be connected to the NGWSP. The ten turnout locations shown also represent communities whose chapter leadership is working with the Navajo Nation to manage the pre-construction/construction projects which will connect each community into the NGWSP pipeline. As of August 2022, funds were granted to design the connection plans into the Sanostee, Newcomb/Two Grey Hills, Sheep Springs, Naschitti, Rock Springs/Tsayatoh, and Tohatchi/Mexican Springs communities, and data collection has begun. This was accomplished through a combined funding effort from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA-Federal Funds), the State of New Mexico (State Funds) and Navajo Tribal Funds. Beyond the initial connection into NGWSP, each chapter will continue working to obtain funds to develop their individual community plans, where having a reliable water supply available will allow for growth of new businesses and homes, as well as help those residents not currently connected to the existing NTUA water system.

The NGWSP is being built to provide water from the San Juan River to replace the diminishing ground water supply across the Navajo Nation. Once built, the NGWSP pipeline will be connected into the existing Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) water systems, allowing the existing ground water wells to be turned off in some cases, or at a minimum, be used less often, affording the groundwater aquifers to naturally recharge.

NGWSP construction completion is scheduled for 2028 including the timing of the first surface water deliveries. Substantial completion is scheduled for 2029 after a year-long testing period. Reclamation continues to visit Chapter meetings to supply project updates in various communities during scheduled monthly meetings or by request. Please contact Becky Begay, the Navajo Outreach Coordinator for Reclamation out of the Four Corners Construction Office, with any requests to coordinate a visit with your Chapter about NGWSP.

In case you missed it:

Interior Department Announces Actions to Protect Colorado River System, Sets 2023 Operating Conditions for Lake Powell and Lake Mead

CUPCA Celebrates 30-year Anniversary

"25 Years of Remembrance" Reclamation reflects on the tragic loss of eight Upper Colorado Region Employees in 1997

Protecting threatened and endangered fish below Glen Canyon Dam

Reclamation awards $73 million construction contract for continued progress on the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project's San Juan Lateral

100th Anniversary of the Colorado River Compact

This November we will commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the signing of the Colorado River Compact. Stay tuned to social media and the Pipeline for our video series on the Colorado River Compact: The Framework for our Future to commemorate this significant centennial and learn more about how this foundational document became the basis for planning all of our future operations along the Colorado River.
The videos can also be found on our YouTube playlist here: 100th Commemoration of 1922 Colorado River Compact