**UPDATE 12:05PM 11/6**
SweetwaterNOW has received a response via email from Alyse Sharpe, the Senior Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Department of the Interior:
“We are aware of an operational issue that occurred yesterday at Fontenelle Dam, which resulted in higher-than-anticipated water releases for a short period of time. The release has since returned to normal operating levels. Water flows did not reach flood stage, and the event did not trigger the Emergency Action Plan. However, we are proactively contacting partners and stakeholders out of an abundance of caution. We are working closely with technical staff to determine the cause of the issue and to confirm all operational systems are functioning properly.”
Early Wednesday morning, the flow of the Green River through the city of Green River rapidly increased. Flows of 800 cubic feet per second (cfs) for the past several months jumped unexpectedly to 3400 cfs about 4 A.M. yesterday….a fourfold volume increase.
The Joint Powers water plant reported that the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that controls Fontenelle Dam, explained the increased flows were the result of unscheduled maintenance. Several calls to the Bureau by TRN Media resulted in no further explanation. We were simply told that their media people had been furloughed and they were operating with a minimum staff due to the government shutdown.
No further details were offered by the Bureau, but it appears the release caught everyone off guard. The water plant reported flows decreasing by about 6 A.M.
