This contract provides cost-share funds for the Touchet Consolidation project. The objective of the project is to utilize an existing intake dam to consolidate three water diversions, install ESA-compliant fish screens to replace outdated screens, and build a pool and chute fishway to provide better fish passage over the dam.  The intake dam is a Lower Snake River Compensation Facility to deliver water to the Snake River Lab (SRL) juvenile steelhead acclimation pond.  The dam allows migration of adult Mid-Columbia Basin Steelhead and large bull trout. The Dayton Intake Dam is located on the Touchet River in Dayton, Washington, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  The Touchet River is a major tributary of the Walla Walla River, and has ESA-listed Mid-Columbia Basin Steelhead and Bull Trout.  This area of the Touchet R. is identified as a priority area in both the Walla Walla Subbasin Plan and the Salmon Recovery Plan.  The intake dam was built to supply water for an acclimation pond for mitigation under the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (mitigation for the four lower Snake River Dams).  The intake dam is a fish passage barrier to juvenile salmonids including steelhead and smaller migrating bull trout, as well as other native species like Mountain Whitefish and Bridgelip Suckers.  The dam, constructed in the early 1980s, focused on adult migration only.  Adult Steelhead have very little trouble navigating the dam during most flow regimes.

Within one mile downstream there are two irrigation ditches that use annual push-up dike berms to deliver water to their intakes.  These berms have a negative impact on the stream habitat and are an imminent threat to spawning steelhead and their nests.  Additionally, there are migrating Bull trout that over-winter in this section of the Touchet R.   The push-up berms are used because the water diversions are located within a flood control channel through the city of Dayton.  Building hard structures to deliver water would have major liability issues.  WDFW has been working with irrigators to find a solution to eliminate the practice of push-up berms.  This project is designed to utilize the formal dam to provide water to all three diversions, consolidate fish screens and maintenance, and pipe the water to each of the users.  The irrigators will then be responsible to pipe their irrigation systems ultimately resulting in a closed irrigation system.  A closed system is a more efficient way to irrigate, because when irrigators are not using water, the water stays in the river.  This will increase instream flows and promote cooler stream temperatures.  Also, the push up berms loosen naturally armored stream substrate, which in turn gets washed downstream and deposits upstream of the Highway 12 Bridge in Dayton.  This creates a need for continued maintenance by the city of Dayton and has additional impacts to stream habitat.

The anticipated results of the project are substantial.  First, utilizing the existing dam to consolidate three diversions will eliminate two annual push-up berms. Currently, the Hearn and West End Irrigation Ditches build “Push-Up Berms” annually to divert water for irrigation.  The berms are constructed typically between May and June during critical spawning and emergence for steelhead, and upstream migration timing for bull trout wintering in the lower Touchet River.    Doing away with the push-up berms therefore removes an imminent take on listed species, improves stream habitat conditions temporally and spatially, and promotes more natural bedload movement and stream function.  Pushup berms break up and soften the natural stream bottom allowing for more bedload movement and are washed away during high flows.  The cobbles ultimately build up upstream from the Highway 12 and the Railroad Bridge in Dayton over time that creates possible flooding issues.  Finally, it is costly for the irrigators who are interested in finding a better way to deliver their irrigation water to their diversion. The elimination of the berm construction activities will have both immediate and cumulative positive results on the stream habitat, the aquatic life, and the community in the area.

The project approach has been one of collaboration from the beginning.  All stakeholders have been involved throughout the conceptual design phase through to the finished design.  WDFW, NOAA, and USFWS engineers have been involved throughout the design of the project and will be closely involved in the construction to monitor progress and make certain the work is finished according to the engineered plans.  Copies of the complete engineer design drawings can be provided.

The intake dam and acclimation pond is a USFWS-owned facility operated by WDFW.  USFWS has provided $500,000 for the project and has been an important partner during the design phase.  USFWS and WDFW will be responsible for the long-term stewardship of the facility.  The irrigators have signed landowner willingness forms and are providing cash match and in-kind match to the project.  The irrigators are active partners in this project and will be responsible for long-term stewardship of the irrigation components of the project.  The project has many partners including The City of Dayton, Columbia County, Local irrigators, USFWS, WDFW, WDOE, Tri-State Steelheaders (RFEG), Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation CTUIR, BPA, Columbia County Conservation District, and Snake River Salmon Recovery Board.  Funding for the project also has many contributing partners including: BPA, USFWS, FRIMA, WDOE (Ecology), Tri-State Steelheaders, WDFW, and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB).  The project has a total of 1.535 million dollars committed for construction of the project.

The project has encountered inflation and rising material costs.  Commodities such as plastic pipe, doubled in price at the time of the first project bidding.  Steel escalated approximately 30% and Portland cement nearly doubled.  Petroleum products are continuing to drive up the cost of construction especially projects employing heavy machinery like the Touchet Consolidation Project.  Funding from BPA has helped put this project back on track for construction.  In May 2007 WDFW rebid the project for construction, the resulting bids match the current funding available for the project and will allow for completion of the project down to the Hearn Ditch diversion.  Unless additional funding becomes available during construction, WDFW will pursue additional funding to finish the last leg of the pipeline to the West End Diversion.   All of the other funding contracts are in place, the last step towards awarding the contractor bid and construction is to get the BPA contract finalized.  I can't emphasize enough that the BPA and Tri-State Steelheaders funding has saved this very important project, without the additional funding the Touchet Consolidation project stood to lose some of the funding available for project construction.  

Funds being used were proposed under BPA project #1996-011-00 (sponsored by CTUIR), later combined with 2 other capital projects into 2007-396-00.