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On No! If there is water in the Salt River that means I can't sleep in it!
Normally there ain't no water in the Salt River and I sleep in it.
But every 10 years or so we get a big storm and they have to
release water into the Salt River so the damns up north won't break.
In Japanese when every you have a sentence that is a question you end it with the word "ka", which is why this file is named water_in_the_salt_river_ka.htmlas "Water in the Salt River? When does that ever happen?" The water ends up in Painted Rock Resevor and some times Painted Rock Resevor becomes the largest lake in Arizona because of the runoff. Painted Rock Resevor is some where south of here on the Gila River near Gila Bend. For those of you who arn't from Arizona and can't habla espanol Gila is pronounce with an "H", just like the desert critter a gila monster. Coming to Salt River soon, water runoff by Shaun McKinnon - Feb. 6, 2009 07:08 PM The Arizona Republic Water will begin flowing down the lower Salt River as early as this weekend to make room for runoff from a series of storms expected in Arizona's high country. Salt River Project began releasing water on Friday from Roosevelt Lake as the giant reservoir neared its highest-ever level, swollen by a second wet winter. Once let out of Roosevelt, the water will pass through Apache, Canyon and Saguaro lakes and into the normally dry Salt River bed, which crosses the Valley through Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix. As a result, the river crossing at McKellips Road will likely be closed into the spring months, SRP officials said. Heavy runoff from several storms in December filled Roosevelt, the largest of SRP's storage reservoirs, and left almost no room to handle additional runoff without using space designated for flood control. The reservoir is just inches from what is considered full capacity, an elevation of 2,151 feet above sea level. It has never reached that level before. Water levels could continue to rise, but any water captured above that level must be released within 20 days, under federal regulations. By beginning releases gradually, SRP can minimize the amount of water lost down the lower salt. "Our plan is to start releasing smaller amounts of water" said Charlie Ester, SRP's water resources manager. "That will allow us to see how much runoff we get from these next storms." SRP released water into the lower Salt last year to free up storage space on the Verde River, whose two reservoirs are much smaller. This year, the Salt system filled quickly, while ample storage space remains on the Verde side. |