WANAPUM DAM - Grant PUD employees and contractors are hustling to meet an April 15 deadline to complete a project to ensure safe adult salmon and steelhead passage.

The problem started when the Wanapum Reservoir was lowered 26 feet in February for drilling work to discover the cause of Wanapum Dam's spillway crack. This resulted in dry fish ladders at the dam, which were still visible Tuesday.

The reservoir still isn't back to its current levels because drilling isn't done.

To help fish passage, the district is installing eight pumps (four pumps at each ladder, at 90 horsepower each) and a special weir box (a weir intercepts water flowing downstream) that will mimic a system partially installed when fish ladders were designed in the 1960s, explains Hydro Supervisor Ray Ellis on Tuesday. At the time, much of the equipment was never installed.

The new equipment will help fish get past the dry upper end of the ladder.

It will cost an estimated $1.6 million for the fish ladder work, with a pump rental of six months (at $28,000 per month). Monitoring and trapping and hauling costs bring the estimated cost to about $3 million.

The peak of the spring run Chinook salmon is mid to late May, explained Grant PUD fisheries scientist Russell Langshaw.

He said they will make the April 15 deadline, but over the next two to three weeks, district employees will trap and haul all or most fish by truck around the reservoir. There are up to eight trucks designated for the trap and haul. It is estimated the trucks can carry up to 1,500 fish per day.

"Ultimately, a majority will go through the ladders," Langshaw said.

The big push is for adult salmon and steelhead because the district has all passage options available for juveniles.

District staff will continue to monitor for summer Chinook.

Chelan County PUD is working on modifying Rock Island Dam's fish ladders for possible lower flows in the summer and to ensure they have passage all day.

Although the fracture at Wanapum Dam was an unusual event, having employees and contractors work on overlapping projects is not, explained Grant PUD Hydro Supervisor Julie Pyper. The district's employees have completed several complex projects in recent years, including turbine replacements and the 2008 federal relicensing of the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project.

"We have existing relationships already," Pyper said. "We have the same skill set with a lot of other different projects."