Park Newsletter July 18, 2008

A section of pipe -- six feet in diameter and weighting 21,000 pounds -- on its way to being installed as part of new facilities that protect the Port Angeles industrial water supply.

Water Protection Measures Under Construction; Elwha River Temporarily Diverted
With the summer construction season in full swing, work is proceeding on the Elwha Restoration Project. Two water quality protection facilities are under construction --both will protect water supplies during and after dam removal.

The Elwha Water Facilities project, located along the river downstream of Highway 112, includes a new surface water intake and a water treatment plant to protect the water supply for industry and fish rearing.  In order to build the new surface water intake, some construction needs to be done in the river bed itself.  So the river has been temporarily diverted into a constructed channel, allowing workers to enter the river bed.

 

Workers move rocks to create a temporary coffer dam (seen on right) to divert the Elwha River into a temporary channel (seen in close foreground.)

 

Park staff and friends await the signal to begin marching in the Port Angeles Independence Day parade. 

The theme for this year's entry -- which also included a ranger vehicle and the park's new wildland firefighting engine -- was "enjoy Olympic National Park safely by bringing the Ten Essentials."

Henry Meyer, park volunteer