BOULDER CITY, Nev. - On Wednesday, July 7, and Thursday, July 8, the Bureau of Reclamation will reduce overnight releases from Davis Dam as a continued effort to help decrease the local caddisfly population. The reduced flows along the river reach below Davis Dam will help with an ongoing pest abatement study being conducted by the downstream communities to combat this nuisance species that negatively impacts businesses and visitors to the area.
Overnight releases at Davis Dam will be reduced to approximately 1,800 cubic feet per second beginning at 1:00 a.m. MST for an approximate 5-hour duration. During this time, the water levels below Davis Dam will drop, exposing the banks of the river channel where caddisfly pupae and larvae live, allowing the local bird and bat population to assist with pest abatement by feeding heavily on the exposed insects.
Additionally, these low flows will provide an opportunity for local communities to clean river front areas after the Fourth of July holiday.
Access to the Colorado River below Davis Dam will be limited and extra caution should be exercised if overnight use of the river is planned during these times. All river users should be aware that these lower than normal river flows may expose or create natural hazards such as sandbars, gravel bars, unstable riverbanks, floating or submerged debris or other unfamiliar obstacles, and it takes a few hours of higher releases until they return to their pre-low flow release levels.
Planned operations may change depending on operational or environmental conditions. Daily and hourly information on releases from Reclamation's Colorado River dams is available on Reclamation's web site, at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/riverops.html. Davis Dam and Parker Dam projected water release schedules can be found at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/DavisParkerSchedules.pdf.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation
