June 3, 2002
Jerrold Gregg, Snake River Area Manager
208-334-1460
Robert Adams, Black Canyon Dam
Facility Manager 208-365-2600 (Ext.13)

Emergency Shutdown of Pumping Facility to Cause Temporary Interruption in Irrigation Water Deliveries

Farmers in a portion of the Black Canyon Irrigation District will be without water for a couple days while Bureau of Reclamation work crews repair the main electrical transformer that is heating up to unsafe temperatures.

An infrared camera detected dangerous heat levels at a transformer located at the C-Line Canal Switchyard Pumping Plant about 13 miles southwest of Black Canyon Dam causing Reclamation officials to shutdown the electrical power to the transformer rather than risk a possible explosion.

The switchyard supplies electrical power to a pumping plant that supplies water into the canal system for farmers in the Notus, Middleton, and Parma areas. Irrigation District managers will begin immediately to gradually decrease flows in to the canal in order to accommodate the repairs.

Reclamation officials say they intend to start work on the transformer immediately once it cools down to a safe temperature. Normal temperature readings are around 110 degrees to 140 degrees, infrared cameras reported the transformer had heated up to around 350 degrees.

"We have no choice but to call for an emergency repair," said Jerrold Gregg, Snake River Area Office manager, "if this was not detected, the situation could have been much worse."

Gregg said water first has to be reduced in the canal system gradually, a procedure that could take at least 12 hours to complete. The C-Line Canal is running at about 1200 cubic feet per second. By 10 p.m. Tuesday the flow will be reduced to about 450 cfs.

Reclamation is working closely with the irrigation district in order to fix the problem quickly and resume water deliveries. Gregg said water should be back in the system by Thursday morning.