Inside Bowersock North

The Bowersock north unit, on an idle Saturday morning, January 26, 2013.

The Kaw has been flowing recently at a rate of about 700 cubic feet per second. Average flow is about ten times that, although much higher rates and lower rates are normal. Normals are changing, but check back in fifty years for specific information. For power generation at Bowersock, 5,400 cfs would be ideal.

Because the river belongs to everyone, Bowersock can only take water as the Kaw gives it. That is, it operates some combination of the seven turbine/generators at the South unit, and the four much larger turbine/generators at the new North unit so that the flow of water downstream is not diminished. Lawrence drinks from this river. So do people downstream. It will likely be some time before the North unit sees river levels that will allow it to generate the power it was designed to produce.

The power plant is also designed to let high water pass through and around the plant so as not to exacerbate flooding. Where people are walking on the open level below the generator floor, will likely be underwater one day, and then, too, the plant would be idle.

Click on photos to see them full-sized 

Bowersock welcomes visitors. For more information: http://www.bowersockpower.com/
For US Geological River Data: USGS Kaw River at Lawrence
Blogpost on Construction of Bowersock North: Photos on Walk to the River


We are not a people only taking a bison at a time from the prairie for our needs. The Kaw is not the river it once was.

Wild is not an option, although you don't have to look far beneath the surface of the area I walk around on to see wildness - and the evidences of deep power and mysteries beyond our relatively simple ability to harness falling water and to wire a magneto. We have achieved mastery over some things, but not everything. The Bowersock dam and power plants represent a cleaner, more responsible way of doing things. Certainly, in the long run, it is a better way than the coal-burning plant upstream.

But we still must learn to generate more respect for ourselves and our planet. We still can't fool Mother Nature.

As I walk, I am trying to find my rightful place - looking for the places where I belong. I think that Bowersock is a pretty good fit, for now, and likely, long after I am gone.