Pend Oreille PUD

As is normal for this time of year, Pend Oreille PUD is keeping a close watch on the Pend Oreille River. Current snowpack levels for the Pend Oreille River drainage, which are the Upper and Lower Clark Fork Basins and the Flathead Basin, are 95 to 100 percent of average.

Property owners along the Pend Oreille River are encouraged to take precautions and prepare for possible flooding, including securing docks and boats. Peak river elevation for this year is expected to be sometime in late May or early June. “Unfortunately, we simply do not know exactly how high the river will rise or when peak flows will be reached”, said Terry Borden, the PUD’s Manager of Hydro Production at Box Canyon Dam. “When and how quickly the snowpack melts is determined solely by the weather”, he added.

Due to operational limitations, Box Canyon Dam is normally unable to produce electricity above 80,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). Power production at Box Canyon was shut down on April 29. As of May 1, river flow rates were between 78,000 and 81,000 cfs. The peak flow rate for 2011 was 126,000 cfs. During the flood year of 1997, the maximum flow rate was 140,000 cfs.

Pend Oreille Public Utility District commissioners unanimously agreed to hire Jay Pickett as the next general manager. “We had a number of highly qualified internal and external applicants”, said commission president, Dan Peterson. “We believe Jay has the experience and leadership skills to ‘hit the ground running’ with the current challenges facing the PUD, as well as the potential for effective long-term service to our county.”

Jay Pickett has over 20 years of experience in energy, with a thorough understanding of the Western United States bulk power system, power distribution, power generation, and industry training.  Continue reading →

During a late night session on April 11, 2012, the Washington State Legislature passed Engrossed Senate Bill 5127, which included a Safe Reliable Drinking Water Grant award of $900,000 to Pend Oreille PUD for improvements to the Metaline Falls Water System. A total of $11,638,000 in grant awards for Safe Reliable Drinking Water projects were made. Funds from the Washington State Building Construction Account will be used for the grants. Pend Oreille was one of only four public utility districts (Skagit, Pend Oreille, Kitsap, and Mason) to receive a grant. Continue reading →

Visit the new Community Network System website at: www.cnsfiber.net for information about the fiber optic project.

A power outage affected the downtown Newport area from approximately 12:15 to 2:30 during the afternoon of April 3rd. The cause of the outage was a tree branch that fell onto a three-phase power line near the intersection of Cass and Fourth Streets in Newport, causing the electrical conductor to burn in two. The high amperage fault current, which was a result of the tree branch lying across the lines, caused a jumper near First and Union to burn off, with a large blue arc and loud boom.

PUD linemen isolated the lines on Fourth St. in order to make repairs to the line on Union and restore power to the majority of affected customers. They then returned to Fourth Street and replaced the damaged section of line. Final repairs were made and power was restored to all customers by about 3:30 p.m.