Phase 1
This is a completed project which renovated the juvenile fishing pond in the City of Dayton, WA. The pond lies next to the Touchet River and utilizes an existing water right from ECOLOGY to fill and maintain the pond. The pond consisted of two separate basins (North and South) separated by a small concrete box culvert. It was constructed in the 1950s, and became shallow and weedy, causing in-pond summer water temperatures to rise, and the temperature of water returning to the Touchet River to be outside of State standards. Neither the inlet nor outlet structures were properly designed to meet current requirements for a river containing ESA listed salmonid populations; i.e. - exclude native fish from entering the pond and retain planted catchable fish in the pond. ESA listed populations of bull trout and summer steelhead use the Touchet River in the vicinity of the pond as a migratory corridor, and steelhead and rainbow trout also spawn and rear in the area. Spring Chinook salmon have been documented spawning upstream and downstream of the pond outlet in 2001, and salmon have been observed in the river three of the five years since then.

Renovation of the pond began with completion of a fully screened state-of-the-art water supply system in May 2006. To complete the renovation, construction and installation a new outlet structure to allow bottom water withdrawal (rather than the current surface overflow pipe) from the pond (to be completed primarily with DOE grant funds) and improve general maintenance, along with excavation of approximately 4,000–5,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediments from the pond (to be completed primarily with local contributions and Dayton City Council Park funds) was completed. Design, construction, and installation of a new outlet structure represents the largest materials outlay. Excavation and re-contouring of the pond was completed, to coordinate with outlet structure completion and installation. This was a cooperative effort between the City of Dayton, Citizens for Community Projects, and the Dayton community.

The result of this project include the reduction of diversion rate from 10 cfs to 1 cfs from the Touchet River. The water saved in this project was not eligible for trusting under the the State of Washington because of the short distance the water was diverted. The return point is very near the diversion point with very low consumption rate. The benefit to salmon realized in this project involved the 9 cfs left in the river and the the reduced temperature of the water returning to the Touchet.