More newspaper clippings about the lock are here.
The spillways are rather low because the Tainter gates are so tall. This allows the spillway to be used as a diversion channel while the second part of the dam is built.
The fight concerning the fish continues. This is a Dec 2, 2022 update.
In the meantime, the USACE is spending big money to design and install new turbines that are designed to reduce the fish kill and to improve horsepower by 4%. Six photos from USACE-modernizing:
The turbine research and installation cost $92m and achieved a 98.25% survival rate. "“Significant reductions in strike, exposure to shear, turbulence and low pressure zones, coupled with the high direct survival numbers put the turbine passage route at the same level or better than spillway passage” said Corps Hydraulic Engineer, Martin Ahmann, the project Technical Lead." $321m has been awarded to build and install 14 turbines at McNary Dam. [cbbulletin] I never did find a kill rate for the old turbine design.
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USACE "The powerhouse has three 90,000-kilowatt units [1962] and three 111,000-kilowatt units [1976]– 603-megawatt total powerhouse capacity. The first of three new, advanced-technology turbine runners designed to improve fish passage was installed and became operational in 2018. The work also includes structural modifications to the turbine draft tube exits, wicket gates and stay vanes to improve hydraulic conditions for fish. Small-scale model testing of the new fixed-blade runner design indicate increased power generation by 3 to 4 percent. During fiscal year 2017, 1.93 billion kilowatt hours of electricity were produced. "Two fish ladders provide adult fish upstream passage through Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. In 2005, a spillway weir was also installed to improve passage conditions for juvenile salmon downstream outmigration. Modifications to a lamprey fish ladder entrance were made in 2018, and lamprey passage orifices, and installation of metal plating have been made to assist adult lamprey upstream passage. Juvenile fish survival is anticipated to improve further with completed installation new turbine runner installation in unit 2 during 2018." |
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0:11 video @ 0:00 Make it rain!!! Brian Skidmore: Are you at full capacity? Or just have to spill a required kcfs? Andy Michel: Brian Skidmore No where near full capacity. Mostly just wasting water in the name of saving salmon. |
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Andy Michel posted Neil Jacobson: Looks like enough room for 1 small boat. Andy Michel: Neil Jacobson Negative. Small crafts must enter last and leave first when locking through with a tug boat. |
3 of 29 construction photos on USACE:
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The spillways are rather low because the Tainter gates are so tall. This allows the spillway to be used as a diversion channel while the second part of the dam is built.
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Andy Michel posted Ice Harbor Lock & Dam Construction Photo Tri-City Herald January 3rd, 1961 |
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Andy Michel posted Ice Harbor Navigation Lock & Spillway Construction Photos Tri-City Herald February 24th, 1961 |
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Andy Michel posted Ice Harbor Trash Boom/Collection System Tri-City Herald March 5th, 1969 |
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David Gulden posted SHAVERS M/V CASCADES at ICE HARBOR LOCK on the SNAKE RIVER just like JOHN DAY has GAUNTLET GATE she is 675 long with a 100 foot single lift Adrian Pirani: Start making Lower Mississippi stacks like these! William Lee Winders: Adrian Pirani noooooooo David Gulden: William Lee Winders already seen a few like that in the south lol devall towing has a few. Brody Schwartz: William Lee Winders keeps the exhaust out of the wheelhouse/galley and a lot quieter. William Lee Winders: Brody Schwartz I know why they do it but my gosh it kills a good looking boat. [After all, a towing company should worry more about the fans than their crews.] Miles A. Souders: Spring run off hang on to your seat after the floating wall. |
This helps show the height of the lock.
Andy Michel posted two photos with the comment: "I just hate it when my chips get wet."
Rob Jordan: What is the weight of those chips?
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USACE-operations Height: 141' (52m) Length: 2,822' (555m) Hydraulic Capacity: 106 kcfs Spillway Capacity (max): 850 kcfs |
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Timothy Temple, Aug 2022 |
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1 of 25 photos of other subjects posted by Scott Butner Order here: https://scottbutnerphotography.squarespace.com/readytohang-wall-art/p/iceharbor-dam-pano Andy Michel shared Cool shot from the water. |
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Andy Michel posted It’s Clearwater. [I don't understand the description. It was tagged as Ice Harbor L&D.] |
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Andy Michel posted Russ and a few of his buddies heading through the locks. Tri-City Herald August 13th, 1968 Neil Jacobson: Looks like a old Higgens Boat. |
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Russ Gilliam commented on Andy's post I bet that was our old LCM. Andy Michel: Russ Gilliam I think so!! |
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Andy Michel posted Measuring our open standpipe piezometer wells today as a part of our monthly dam safety inspection. |
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bluefish Construction was authorized by the Rier and Harbor Act of 1945. [USACE] But construction was delayed by years because of concerns about the impact on migratory fish and about the cost. |
The fight concerning the fish continues. This is a Dec 2, 2022 update.
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LagrandeObserver "Ice Harbor Dam on the Lower Snake River holds back Lake Sacajawea, a source of irrigation water for 47,000 acres of farmland. A federal judge on Tuesday, Oct. 26, [2022], granted a stay in litigation seeking to save endangered salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake rivers. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Contributed Photo" |
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wawg A Dec 21, 2022, report of a lobbying boat trip sponsored by the agriculture industry. Laurie Weitkamp, a research fisheries biologist at NOAA said "that many salmon populations are in a downward trend largely due to unfavorably warm ocean conditions." Concurrently (Oct 1, 2022), NOAA issued a report recommending the removal of the Snake river dams. [nwpb] |
I think they do an asymmetric water release to maximize the health of juvenile fish by moving water that is closer to the surface. [keprtv]
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TripAdvisor |
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Digitally Zoomed |
In the meantime, the USACE is spending big money to design and install new turbines that are designed to reduce the fish kill and to improve horsepower by 4%. Six photos from USACE-modernizing:
The turbine research and installation cost $92m and achieved a 98.25% survival rate. "“Significant reductions in strike, exposure to shear, turbulence and low pressure zones, coupled with the high direct survival numbers put the turbine passage route at the same level or better than spillway passage” said Corps Hydraulic Engineer, Martin Ahmann, the project Technical Lead." $321m has been awarded to build and install 14 turbines at McNary Dam. [cbbulletin] I never did find a kill rate for the old turbine design.
Andy Michel posted three photos and a video with the comment: "Unit 3 Kaplan oil piping going in today."
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This is a new view.
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Andy Michel posted Dam Smoke [Canadian wildfires] |
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0:24 video |
Andy Michel posted two videos about "Once in a lifetime Kaplan pipe removal!!"
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