The Transcontinental Aqueduct. Leg 3: Brad reservoir (to be built) to North of Baird dams. (to be constructed), a distance of 60 miles.

The second stage of the aqueduct went from Aquilla Lake to Brad Lake.

The elevation at Brad reservoir is 1370 feet. From 25 miles East of Breckenridge the aqueduct goes W to 19.5 miles ENE of Abilene, a distance of 60 miles . The dam yet to be built will top out at 1840 feet with maximum water level at 1830 feet. The total lift of the water in stage 3 is (1830 – 1370 + 60×2.2) feet = 592 ft. To lift 26,000 cubic feet per second 592 feet requires twelve 100 MW LFTR nuclear reactors The upper Baird reservoir will contain about 90,000 Acre-ft when full, about two days worth of storage. For 5 hours per day these twelve 100 MW reactors can provide 1 GW of peak power to the grid. There will be a lower dam to provide hydroelectric power storage of 4 GWh, of 800 MW for 5 hours, after which the lower dam will be re-emptied by pumping back the water to the upper dam, hopefully using surplus wind-power.

The Deadman Draw upper and lower lake

And this is what a hydroelectric power storage unit looks like:

Schematic of pumped storage hydropower system. | Download Scientific Diagram

August 12, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 12. The Apostle Paul instructed the Corinthians there are different spiritual gifts, but the same God works in all of them. There is unity in diversity, and yet all Christians are one body in Christ, one body with many parts and all are important for “by one spirit are we all baptized into one body” so now Paul says “ye are the body of Christ.” As to gifts there is a more excellent way, which will be revealed in the next chapter.

Song of Solomon 1. The Song of Songs stands unique in the Bible. It has no obvious religious content, just beautiful poetry. But it fits with the theme of love permeating the Bible. It starts with the Banquet.

Song of Solomon 2, the Banquet, the Beloved’s Request.

The Transcontinental Aqueduct, Leg 2: Aquilla lake to Brad reservoir (to be built), a distance of 100 miles.

The first stage of the aqueduct was from the Mississippi river diversion to Lake Aquilla:

The elevation at this lake is 548 feet. From here the aqueduct goes NW to 25 miles East of Breckenridge. It crosses the Brazos river and then goes through the Squaw Creek reservoir. This reservoir is built to provide cooling water for a nuclear power plant. The aqueduct will provide extra water in case of extreme drought. The end of Stage 2 is a dam, located just south of the Brad Cemetery on U.S. route 180, 25 miles East of Breckenridge. The dam, yet to be built will top out at 1380 feet with maximum water level at 1370 feet. The total lift of the water in stage 2 is (1370 – 548 + 100×2.2) feet = 1062 ft. To lift 26,500 cubic feet per second 1062 feet requires twenty-three 100 MW LFTR nuclear reactors. Lake Brad will contain about 90,000 Acre-ft when full, about two day’s worth of storage. For 5 hours per day these 23 reactors can provide 2.3 GW of peak power to the grid. (The power can also be provided by wind power, during which time the LFTR’s can make hydrogen for extra peak power storage).

The Transcontinental Aqueduct. Leg 1: Atchafalaya river (Mississippi river bypass) to Aquilla lake, a distance of 360 miles.

The Transcontinental aqueduct at the starting point will have a carrying .capacity of 15 million acre-ft per year, or 21,000 cubic feet per second on average. Maximum flow will be 26,500 cfs, allowing the power generators to supply peak power to the grid for up to 5 hours per day instead of pumping water.

The starting point of the aqueduct is where the Red river empties out in the Atchafalaya river, and has a Mississippi River diversion canal. The elevation at the starting point is 7 feet, and the dam and 32 desilting basins of size 300 x 600 feet with a depth of 20 feet will be located in the upper part of the never used West Atchafalaya Floodway. From there the water will be collected and the aqueduct will start going westward.

The Mississippi River flood control Morganza spillway is south of the Atchafalaya river diversion, and will not interfere. The place chosen is ideal to relieve some of the Mississippi river flow. Even in the lowest Mississippi flow in a drought year this diversion has sufficient flow to divert 26,500 cfs from the river.

The first leg of the aqueduct is 360 miles long and is an open water river with pumping stations whenever the river has to rise at least 30 feet. The river runs by gravity until it has sunk about 15 feet which is about 6.2 miles downstream. Since endpoint is at 548 feet elevation this requires lifting the water about 1300 feet. During the course of the path the aqueduct crosses the Sabine River south of the Toledo Bend Reservoir, going through Richland-Chambers reservoir and Navarro Mills lake; following the best climb it crosses the Neches River and the Trinity River following the geologically best way until it reaches Aquilla Lake. The aqueduct is quite substantial, it will carry about 80% more water than the All American Canal, seen below under construction. This canal has a drop of about 2.2 feet per mile to accommodate maximum flow.

Pumping 26,500 cfs water through the aqueduct requires 3 Gigawatts of power when rounding up for turbine losses. This can be accomplished by thirty 100 MW LFTR reactors, also being able to provide up to 3 GW of peak power for 5 hours/day on demand.

The end point for stage 1 of the channel is Aquilla lake, elevation 548 feet. It has a storage capacity of 100,000 acre-ft, about a day’s worth of storage.

August 11, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 11:17-34. The Apostle Paul deals with with desired conduct at the Lord’s Supper and the very institution of the Lord’s Supper. Examine yourself so you may participate in a worthy manner.

Proverbs 12 is one chapter in the collection of Proverbs of Solomon.

Psalm 67, a Song. A short, beautiful Psalm of praise and singing. It ends with the prophetic “God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.“

Psalm 68, of David. George Horne described how this psalm was assigned to Pentecost in the Anglican liturgy, no doubt because it describes gifts given upon ascension and is quoted in Ephesians 4. “This beautiful, sublime, and comprehensive, but very difficult Psalm, is one of those which the church has appointed to be used on Whitsunday.”

August 10, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 11:1-16. This chapter starts out with a long dissertation ending with “if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”

Job 41. God’s challenges to Job continued.

Job 42. Job repented, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” and God completely restored Job.

Psalm 66, a Song. “This Psalm is said to be recited on Easter day, by the Greek church: it is described in the Greek Bible as A Psalm of the Resurrection, ”

Lake Oroville going dry, but why?

Once full was the Oroville Lake.

Now empty. How much does it take?

No pumped power galore

for the windmills to store.

Blame Climate change, not your mistake.

In 2016 then Governor Jerry Brown declared that California was in a permanent state of drought, so they might as well atart to prepare for water rationing.

The Lake Oroville Dam had a large crack in its spillway, and it was part of the regular maintenance to fix it, but since they were in a permanent drought the lake would never again be full, so there was no need, and certainly no hurry to fix it. Then in 1917 it started to rain again, the lake started to overflow, and instead of a less than 20 million maintenance task it became an over 1 Billion dollar rescue effort with helicopters trying to dump stones in the eroded parts of the dam

That was in early 2017. then in early 2019 it was full again, and with proper conservation measures there was enough water for 5 to 7 years with normal rainfalls from then on, so not to worry. Look where the lake levels are now:

Lake Oroville water level 8 8 639.67 feet

power. But that is not allSince today’s level is below the intake for hydro-power there will be no power from Oroville dam until spring melting season, thus depraving California about 440 MW of power. But that is not all, it also eliminates Oroville Dam of 117 MW power as a Hydro-power storage “battery” for excess wind power, so more wind turbines will have to be shut off when the wind is blowing since there are no customers for excess power. On the other hand, when the wind is not blowing it will have to be replaced by coal or natural gas, which are in insufficient supply. The future is full of brownouts, and rotating blackouts.

This is how the Oroville Lake looks now:

What is most galling is that of the water released in March of this year, before farmers really started to use water, 91% of the released water went into the San Francisco Bay to save the Delta Smelt, a totally useless fish, but protected. For the moment I can not think of a more inept way to run a water and energy business.

August 9, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 10. The Apostle  Paul gave examples from the Old Testament, “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it“, flee from idolatry, and do it all to the glory of God.

Job 39. The LORD continued and proclaimed His magnificent creation.

Job 40. Job responded to God and God gave a challenge to Job.

August 8, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 9. The Apostle Paul showed a pattern of self denial so as to serve all men. He was striving for a crown as he was “running the race”.

Job 37. Elihu continued proclaiming God’s majesty.

Job 38. The LORD intervened and answered Job out of the whirlwind.

August 7, read through the Holy Bible in a year.

1 Corinthians 8. The Apostle Paul gave practical advise: Don’t be a stumbling block to the weak.

Job 35. Elihu hammered it in and condemned self-righteousness.