DESCRIPTION
The Walla Walla County Conservation District used this grant to fund the installation or remediation of 21 fish screens that were not performing correctly. Since 2001, the WDFW Cooperative Compliance Review Program, in partnership with the Walla Walla County Conservation District, has been highly successful in reducing juvenile fish mortality by placing over 300 state- and federally-approved fish screens on irrigation pumps throughout Walla Walla County. While over 95% of the installed fish screens worked properly from the time of their installation (and continue to do so), there are a few that have been significantly and continuously problematic for the irrigator. In these few cases, the screens failed to provide protection from impingement and did not fully supply allotted water to the irrigator. The biggest problem came from partial plugging of the screen, which resulted in diminished flow and increased inrush velocity. This was especially true of passive screens in the early spring when the screens were sitting on the bottom in swift, deep, silt-laden waters, and in late summer when flows dropped below 2 fps and large amounts of algae accumulated in still water. These conditions often required the irrigator to clean their screen several times daily. These conditions became very counter- productive and were quite difficult and dangerous during periods of swift high water. At times, irrigators were forced to remove the screen, often replacing it with their old non-compliant
The Walla Walla County Conservation District used this grant to fund the installation or remediation of 21 fish screens that were not performing correctly. Since 2001, the WDFW Cooperative Compliance Review Program, in partnership with the Walla Walla County Conservation District, has been highly successful in reducing juvenile fish mortality by placing over 300 state- and federally-approved fish screens on irrigation pumps throughout Walla Walla County. While over 95% of the installed fish screens worked properly from the time of their installation (and continue to do so), there are a few that have been significantly and continuously problematic for the irrigator. In these few cases, the screens failed to provide protection from impingement and did not fully supply allotted water to the irrigator. The biggest problem came from partial plugging of the screen, which resulted in diminished flow and increased inrush velocity. This was especially true of passive screens in the early spring when the screens were sitting on the bottom in swift, deep, silt-laden waters, and in late summer when flows dropped below 2 fps and large amounts of algae accumulated in still water. These conditions often required the irrigator to clean their screen several times daily. These conditions became very counter- productive and were quite difficult and dangerous during periods of swift high water. At times, irrigators were forced to remove the screen, often replacing it with their old non-compliant screen. This project funded appropriate devices to assist irrigators in the safe removal and reinstallation of their approved screens.