Columbia Basin Hydropower’s Major Pumped Storage Plans
Across the Pacific Northwest and California, coal- and gas-fired thermal combustion power plants are being retired and replaced by renewable wind and solar power facilities. This environmentally friendly policy, however, is causing a logistical problem. The intermittent nature of wind and solar generation threatens to result in a 7,500–10,000 megawatt (MW) shortfall in power generation […]
Bonneville Power Administration: The Backbone of the Pacific Northwest Grid
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a nonprofit federal power marketing administration based in the Pacific Northwest that is congressionally mandated to market and transmit the power created by all the federally owned hydroelectric projects on the Columbia River. BPA has marketing responsibility for 31 dams as well as the Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant. […]
Eastern Municipal Water District’s Solar Initiative
Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) provides water, wastewater, and recycled water to more than 825,000 people in Riverside County, California, and in so doing uses more than 100 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy a year. In order to save money, diversify its energy portfolio, and reduce emissions, EMWD is moving forward with an ambitious set […]
Emrgy: Turning Canals Into Hydropower Installations
Solar and wind power have exploded in popularity in recent years as facilities have become cheaper to build, but up until now, this has not been true of a third renewable power source, hydropower. This is primarily because hydropower relies on large installations that require civil construction. Atlanta-based Emrgy is seeking to change all this […]
Public-Private Partnership Helps Protect Prized Western River
The Cache la Poudre River, Colorado’s only nationally designated wild and scenic river, starts high in the Rockies and flows east through the heart of Fort Collins, Colorado. Considered the lifeblood of the community, the river is a regional source of irrigation and drinking water; an essential resource for a booming craft beer industry; and […]
Ensuring the Quality and Reliability of Concrete Pressure Pipe
The American Concrete Pressure Pipe Association (ACPPA) does research, outreach, and advocacy to promote the use of concrete pressure pipe and to promote the availability of state-of-the-art technical knowledge among its member companies, consultants, and utilities. Over the past several decades, its research has answered many pressing questions about different materials’ potential for corrosion and […]
Above and Beyond Regulatory Requirements: Rogue Valley Sewer Services
Rogue Valley Sewer Services (RVSS), based in Central Point, Oregon, is a sewer and storm water service provider for eight Oregon cities. It is remarkable for its affordable fees, its focus on innovation, and its management of programs like public outreach, pollution prevention, water quality, and permitting. Its program management, in particular, gained it a […]
Ahead of the Curve: Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District’s Innovation
Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District (Louisville MSD) has been providing wastewater services to Jefferson County, Kentucky, since the mid-20th century—and has some infrastructure in place that dates to the mid-1800s. While it has a venerable history, Louisville MSD is on the cutting edge. In 2019, it won the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences’ […]
Maintaining Cooperation on the Colorado River
The Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) helps coordinate the activities of the seven Colorado River basin states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—as well as Indian tribes and the country of Mexico on the Colorado River. Each year, it brings water users together for a major conference at which each state and […]
The Bureau of Reclamation: Priorities for 2020 and Beyond
From its roots at the turn of the 20th century, the Bureau of Reclamation has grown to be the nation’s largest water supplier and its second-largest supplier of hydroelectricity. It operates 492 dams, 338 reservoirs, and 53 hydroelectric plants and delivers water to 10 million irrigated acres across the western United States, giving it a […]