# Navajo releases- San Juan River



## sjnovak3 (Jun 17, 2004)

Delete message. Outdated information. Will update with a new post.


----------



## sjnovak3 (Jun 17, 2004)

Ok updated info here:

Increasing release from Navajo today to 700 cfs. The release will take a few days to get to Bluff. Expect low flows until Thursday or so. Rain is in the forecast and may help increase flows some.

Notices will be posted here: Navajo Dam Project Notices | Water Operations | UC Region | Bureau of Reclamation

---
Susan Novak Behery, P.E.
Hydraulic Engineer
Reclamation
Western Colorado Area Office
Durango, CO
[email protected]
970-385-6560


----------



## sjnovak3 (Jun 17, 2004)

And just to keep you updated, if you're planning to float the San Juan this week and were worried about these low flows, USGS just (at 10am this morning) measured 550 cfs (not 250, as was showing on the gage! Phew.) So that's good news. He says that at the low end of flows, the rating curve went off the rails. Their page for Bluff has been updated.

Based on the release changes I've made today, flows at Bluff will probably bump around 500 cfs for the next few days, then go up to 600-700 Thursday/Friday, and then come back down to 500 cfs.

That was confusing, so give me a call if you have questions.
Susan

---
Susan Novak Behery, P.E.
Hydraulic Engineer
Reclamation
Western Colorado Area Office
Durango, CO
[email protected]
970-385-6560


----------



## Issip (Apr 7, 2011)

Thanks for the information, just took out at Clay Hills on the 9th - there wasn't much water there. Given the hydrograph dropping I doubt there would be any channel near the takeout at Clay Hills on the 10th. 

Also on the 8th Slickhorn C and D were essentially inaccessible due to a huge sandbar/mudbar blocking shore. When we arrived in the afternoon on the 8th there was a tiny channel running near shore, not enough to get a small raft through, and by morning that channel was gone and there was just slimy silt.

Was lucky and smart to park my raft near deeper water, and lucky to push to take out on the 9th rather than staying in Oljeto Wash and taking out on the 10th as we'd have had to hike everything halfway across the river at the takeout. Mosquitos ambushed us at Clay Hills, if we hadn't been able to get the raft near the shore they may have overtaken us before we could escape.

So just a warning, even apparently at ~600 CFS, Slickhorn C and D are unusable and Clay Hills may be a nightmare. I thought the original hydrograph was correct, I'm surprised how much water was actually flowing.


----------

