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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 5, 2005 New plan calls for pipe, pump to replace dam By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune A 30-inch pipe suspended above the Rogue River will transfer Grants Pass Irrigation District water from one side of the river to the other under the latest plans for replacing the Savage Rapids Dam with pumps. The federal Bureau of Reclamation’s new design also calls for a single large pumping station along the river’s south bank to feed GPID customers on both sides of the Rogue. A large electronic substation would be built to carry the power necessary to run the nine pumps within the enclosed station. Detailed in a newly released environmental study, the new design replaces old plans for two pumping stations and a pipe spanning the Rogue atop remnant pillars of the 83-year-old dam. Tests revealed that the aging dam’s concrete was not strong enough to support the pipes, said Bob Hamilton, the bureau’s project manager in Boise, Idaho. So bureau engineers instead decided on a pipe that would be perched on four piers, all out of the water during normal flows, Hamilton said. A walkway would sit atop the pipe. Plans are to place the pipe five feet above the 100-year flood elevation level so it won’t snare debris in floods, Hamilton said. Fencing on both sides will keep people out, he said. Advertisement GPID officials said they preferred the overhead pipe over options such as burying the water line beneath the river because the exposed pipe will prove easier to maintain. "It really doesn’t make that much difference to us," GPID Assistant Manager Julie Webster said. "We just want to do it in the most economical way and get on with it. This is easier." The new-look alternative is explained in an environmental assessment mailed last week to people and groups who have expressed interest in the long-planned and hotly debated dam-removal program. The bureau will take public comment on the assessment through Sept. 26. The dam is scheduled to be removed and replaced with pumps as a long-term solution to fish-passage problems while continuing to serve the district’s 9,000 patrons. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study concluded the dam severely reduces the Rogue’s ability to grow wild salmon and steelhead. The new assessment updates the Bureau of Reclamation’s 1995 studies that concluded dam-removal was the best and cheapest alternative for solving the dam’s fish-passage and water-delivery issues. The new design already has been declared an eyesore in the neighboring city of Rogue River, where some residents were clamoring for a redesign. "I don’t think it will look very good," Rogue River Mayor Dick Skevington said. "It looks like it’ll stick out like a sore thumb." Skevington said he and others would try to pressure the bureau into burying the pipe, "but I don’t think we can." But Bob Hunter, attorney for environmental group WaterWatch, said the change helps keep the district on schedule to have the pumps in place and get the dam removed by 2008. And it does so without impeding water flow, boat traffic and the Rogue’s migrating salmon — all key factors that trump aesthetics, Hunter said. "Certainly, it’s not going to be aesthetic," Hunter said. "The dam’s not aesthetic, either. That particular area isn’t the prettiest place on the river. "The main thing is that it doesn’t impede fish passage or boat passage," Hunter said. The assessment also includes a formal timeline that has the power substation work beginning next year with the pumping station built in 2007 and the dam removal slated for 2008. A consent decree the district signed under a federal judge’s watchful eye in 2001 dictates that the dam will no longer be used to help deliver irrigation water after 2006. The district has since received a one-year extension, so the timeline in the environmental assessment matches the decree. "Getting the (assessment) done is a real positive step forward," Hunter said. "It’s certainly important to keep on schedule." The assessment does not include a cost estimate. However, Hamilton said the entire project, which has yet to be completely funded by the government, is not expected to top the $30 million, plus inflation, as outlined last October. Savage Rapids Dam environmental assessment: The assessment introduces the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s design for the removal and replacement of Savage Rapids Dam. It can be downloaded from the bureau’s Web site at www.usbr.gov/pn . Public comments will be accepted through Sept. 26. Write a letter: Mail letters to Bureau of Reclamation, Attn. Mr. Robert Hamilton, 1150 N. Curtis Road, Suite 100, Boise, ID, 83706-1234. Send an e-mail: Comments can be sent electronically to [email protected]. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail New plan calls for pipe, pump to replace dam ">[email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy Online Casino Reviews Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Discount Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Advertisement s