Applegate Lake, Ore. — Wednesday was a big day in southern Oregon for the US Army Corps of Engineers. They opened the spillways at the Applegate Dam.
The Applegate spillway opening is an annual event for the US Army Corps of Engineers. The objective, is to clean the channel and maintain it, so that in the case of an emergency – it’s ready to go.
“It’s important for us to have a good functioning spillway just in case we have those freak storms that have contributed water to the lake that we were not expecting. And if we’re at full pool,” said David Hays, US Army Corps of Engineers.
The US Army Corps of Engineers opened spillways Wednesday, releasing about 2,500 cubic feet per second from the small spillway opening.
“You have to imagine little aquariums that are one-foot, by one-foot, by one-foot – 2,500 of those passing by you, equivalent in water, every second. That’s the rate of the flow coming out of the dam,” he said.
But if you were downstream, you might not have noticed.
“We’ve been monitoring the gauges downstream to make sure we’re doing a good job of that,” he said.
The spillway gates open annually for several reasons – it’s not always due to high water levels.
“First, what we want to do is operate the mechanics of the spillway while it’s under pressure under load,” he said.
This is simply to assure the channel’s working properly. Next, is for cleaning. Cleaning off moss, and the holes and seams behind the spillway.
Since the Rogue Valley has had such a good water year, the opportunity was just right.
“Sometimes we’re able to do it and there’s water in the reservoir pushing up against the spillway gate, like the case right now. Which is a great opportunity to exercise the equipment and make sure it’s wearing well and doing well with weight on it,” he said.
The spillway gates were also opened at Lost Creek Lake last week. The US Army Corps of Engineers is happy to report both were successful operations.
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