FERC relicensing tour - day 2

Beware!  This was a day of learning a new vocabulary: forebays, afterbays, penstocks, reverse siphons, and FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission).

On Thursday, four of us, Peter and his wife, Jo, John, and I drove and hiked (a little bit) with about 25 others as part of the public input phase of the 50-year relicensing process.  We toured the Spaulding/Drum watershed beginning with the Drum Forebay, which receives it's water from Lake Spaulding via the 9 mile Drum Canal.  You have seen this canal from route 20 - it looks like the water is going uphill.  We looked down on the penstocks feeding Drum power houses #1 & #2 and then drove to those powerhouses.  This required a long drive on a single lane paved road (mostly) and would make a great hike for us during colder months due to the beautiful views down to the Bear River and across to the Dutch Flat flume with it's reverse siphon.  Drum Power house #1 was built in 1913 and houses 4 large pelton wheels.  Next to it is a more modern pelton wheel powerhouse built in 1965. 

The Bear then goes to the Drum Afterbay which has three outlets: one to the NID/Dutch Flat Flume, another to keep the river flowing,  and the third to a PG&E Dutch Flat powerhouse.  The NID flume feeds a second powerhouse on the Dutch Flat Afterbay.  From here some of the water feeds the Chicago Park Flume which powers the Chicago Park power house.  That emptied into the Bear River and then Rollins Lake.  The silt build-up from mining was evident in the mounds of gravel of the river. 

We walked across Rollins Lake Dam getting a good view of the spilling spillway (later than normal), and the beginning of the Bear River and the PG&E canal that feed Placer County (this was the canal which suffered a blowout in April). 

So I told you the direction of the water but actually we took a break in the middle, heading to the NID and private lakeside campgrounds and picnic tables in Rollins Lake behind Chicago Park.  People were swimming and launching boats, enjoying the water on a hot day.  Most of the people in our group were from various federal and state agencies and from consulting engineering companies.   Many people are employed thanks to the relicensing requirements!