Herke Fish Screening, Ahtanum Creek 2

The North Yakima Conservation District consolidated two unscreened gravity diversions on Ahtanum Creek into one and designed, fabricated and installed a water meter and compliant fish screen. Ahtanum Creek is a right bank tributary to the Yakima River in WRIA 37 and the diversions are at river mile 21.31 and 21.81. The stream is a high priority stream for restoration, according to the Yakima Basin Steelhead Recovery and Salmon Recovery Plans. The two diversions were identified during Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) fish passage and diversion inventories, and assigned priority index scoring. The goals of the project were to decrease fish entrainment and meter the water use. The stream is utilized by steelhead, Chinook salmon, bull trout, and cutthroat trout.

The consolidated diversion was treated with a modular rotary drum screen fabricated by the WDFW at the Yakima Construction Shop. It was sized to accommodate the Herkes adjudicated water rights and his entitlement to excess flows. A roughened channel was installed to provide grade control and channel stability around the diversion. The YTAHP technical work group planning process was essential to the success of the project.

This project consolidated two, unscreened gravity diversions on Ahtanum Creek into one, and installed a fish screen to eliminate fish entrainment. A water meter was also installed to allow accurate recording of water use.