[env-trinity] ACWA: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Increasing Flows in Klamath River to Fight Parasite Attacking Salmon

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.acwa.com/news/water-news/us-bureau-reclamation-increasing-flows-klamath-river-fight-parasite-attacking-salmon

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U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Increasing Flows in Klamath River to Fight Parasite Attacking Salmon
Submitted by Emily Allshouse on Tue, 10/07/2014 - 1:29pm in 	* Water News
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Saturday began releasing additional water from PacifiCorp’s Iron Gate Dam near Hornbrook, California in an effort to combat a parasite outbreak in coho and Chinook salmon in the upper Klamath River.
Flows at the Iron Gam Dam will increase from 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 1,750 cfs. The 75% increase will continue for 10 days and is expected to make the river current too strong for the parasite to swim through to reach the salmon.
The Bureau first observed the parasite Ichtypthirius multifilis, known as Ich, attacking salmon in mid-September. However, after additional sampling showed the majority of fish in the Klamath with severe infections it was feared that a massive fish die-off, similar to an outbreak of the parasite in 2002 that killed tens of thousands of salmon, would occur.
The releases will come from water stored in PacifiCorp’s Klamath River Hydroelectric Reservoirs. The utility agreed to release the water from its reservoirs to avoid releases from the Upper Klamath Lake. It is anticipated that the increased flow will use about 16,000 acre-feet from PacfiCorp’s reservoirs and will have no effect on Upper Klamath Lake levels.
The Bureau’s press release on the increased flows is available here. 
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