Water Water Everywhere

Wind farms and fossil-fuel power plants in the Pacific Northwest were all but shut down for five hours early Wednesday as the Columbia River basin's hydroelectric generators ran at full capacity and river managers dealt with one of the largest volumes of spring runoff in years.  The agency says the water volume is so great that fish trying to get by the dams are in jeopardy from turbulence and nitrogen in the water.  There have been some flood watches in eastern Idaho due to the heavy runoff but in the Magic Valley there’s been no flooding yet.  Authorities are cautioning those who live along the Snake River to move items away from the banks to avoid damage if it does flood.  One of the benefits to the heavy runoff is the site at Shoshone Falls where flows have been running just under 20,000 cubic feet per second.