Could Hyrdopower at Indianford Pay for Dredging?

Article from Wisconsin Rivers

..."Wisconsin has been a leader in bringing stakeholders to the table, keeping the issue out of the courts, and balancing needs – economic, ecological and recreational,” says Helen Sarakinos, dam program manager for the River Alliance of Wisconsin.

“These agreements are not as sexy as dam removals – after all, how much can you celebrate an agreement?” she asks. “But cumulatively, these operating agreements can have an enormous impact -- and their sexy moments will come.”

...Starting before statehood, wave after wave of dam building altered Wisconsin’s waters. “It transitioned from lumber to wheat to industry to electricity,” says Meg Galloway, DNR’s chief dam safety engineer.

Wisconsin’s hydro plants use different strategies to harness a river’s energy:

· Storage projects impound water behind a dam, forming a reservoir, and then release the water through turbine-generators to produce electricity.

· Run-of-river projects typically use relatively low dams where the amount of water running through the powerhouse is determined by natural river flow.

· Pumped-storage projects pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir at off-peak times when electrical costs are cheaper. During periods of high electrical demand, the water is released back to the lower reservoir to generate electricity.

...New technology may eventually allow more electricity to be generated without nearly as many environmental consequences...