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Feds examine more dam sediment Study to show impact on river if Savage Rapids is removed By PAUL FATTIG GRANTS PASS -- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is back mucking in the mud at the bottom of the Savage Rapids Dam reservoir. The agency today resumes its study on the depth and make-up of sediment immediately upstream of the 80-year-old dam. The study, which will involve drilling from a floating platform, is to determine what amounts of heavy metals have been deposited in the sediment from upstream mining. The agency had also conducted a sediment study in March of this year as well as in 1995. The dam has been targeted for removal by the National Marine Fisheries Service which says the irrigation dam kills migrating fish in the Rogue River. The studies focus on what will happen to the river and its habitat if the dam is removed and the sediment released. "This will give us additional information that needs to be collected and verified on the content of the sediments and its characteristics," said bureau spokesman Jim Mumford. "This will help us provide additional information to the agencies and the (Grants Pass) irrigation district that will ultimately recommend what will happen in the dam's future," he added. The current study, which ends around the first of October, will entail drilling test holes beginning near the dam to a point about a half mile upstream to Savage Rapids Park. Although the drill crew was expected to assemble the pontoon platform and drilling equipment at the park this morning, causing temporary parking problems, public access to the boat launch facility was not expected to be blocked. However, people operating water craft in the area are being warned to stay a safe distance from the drilling platform since submerged cables from it could pose a safety hazard. The platform will be equipped with lights and flagging; the anchor cables will be marked with buoys and flags. Operated by the GPID, the dam has long been a contentious point between those who believe it should be removed to protect fish runs and those who argue that it does more good than harm. Congress approved the $350,000 sediment studies, expected to be completed in October 2000. The Savage Rapids Dam Task Force, which was convened in 1996 by the state Legislature and Gov. John Kitzhaber, had requested the in-depth studies. In the 1998 study, some heavy metals were found in the sediment, although the Environmental Protection Agency concluded the levels were not high enough to warrant concern. However, the task force had asked for further study of the potential of hazardous contaminants in the sediment as well as the affect released sediment would have on irrigation pumps and fish. In addition to taking sediment samples, the study calls for creating a computer model of the river downstream to predict how the sediment would be deposited. In 1995, the bureau concluded that removing the dam would be the least expensive way to improve fish passage at the dam. It proposed allowing winter flooding to remove the sediments trapped behind the dam. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA