New fish ladder to cost up to $4 million
Chinock salmon swim through the fish ladder in the Russian River near Forestville. The ladder needs a new design with screens to prevent salmon from being sucked into pumps.
Sonoma County Water Agency photoPublished: Monday, December 14, 2009 at 8:28 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 14, 2009 at 8:28 a.m.
The Sonoma County Water Agency must replace a fish ladder near Forestville to provide better protection for juvenile fish heading downstream in order to meet federal guidelines.
The fish ladder is expected to cost $3 million to $4 million and will be paid for by local ratepayers and state and federal funds.
“The screen itself does not pass National Marine Fisheries requirements,” said Dave Manning, a senior environment specialist. “There is throughout the country, in particular in California, an effort to design facilities to prevent fish from being injured or sucked into the pumps.”
The requirement is part of a far-reaching National Marine Fisheries order using Environmental Protection Administration rules to protect endangered coho and threatened Chinook and steelhead in the Russian River.
The Sonoma County Water Agency is expected to spend $500 million over the next 20 years to meet the orders.
The orders affect how much water the agency can take from the Russian River for its 600,000 customers in the major cities from Windsor to Petaluma, and the Valley of the Moon, Marin Municipal and North Marin water districts.
It also regulates the flows in and requires rehabilitation of Dry Creek, the Water Agency's pipeline to Lake Sonoma, and requires a change in the way the agency breaches the sandbar at the mouth of the river at Jenner.
The agency now has two fish ladders in the Russian River near Forestville, where it also has an inflatable rubber-bladder dam to pool water for its pumping operations.
Both were built in 1970s, but only the westside ladder is near the intake pumps and needs to be replaced. according to a Water Agency feasibility study released Wednesday.
It now has screens and a rotating drum to let fish pass by the dam to move upstream.
The downstream juvenile fish, which are swimming to the ocean to feed before returning to spawn, now must go over the rubber dam, but can also be injured against the fish screens that are protecting the pumps or be sucked into the pumps themselves.
The present ladder will be replaced with a flat, wider inclined slot to let fish swim through both ways, with the water flow redirected so it provides a slower current.
There will also be cameras to count the fish moving up and downstream, and a viewing platform into the ladder that will be open to public tours.
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