PORT ANGELES — The Elwha River runs through a new channel on the west side of the former Elwha Dam after Barnard Construction workers finished a diversion channel Wednesday.
Soon, the level of water in Lake Aldwell formed by the dam will begin to decline, falling another four feet over the next week, said Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokeswoman.
Penstocks — pipes that brought the water from the dam to the power turbines — will be removed in the next couple of months, she said.
Demolition of the 108-foot dam — and its taller sister dam upstream, the Glines Canyon Dam — began in mid-September and is expected to be completed in early 2013.
Destruction of the two dams is part of the
$325 million federal Elwha River Restoration Project.
The new channel in the Elwha Dam is carved where several spillways once stood.
Barnard Construction diverted the stream to continue demolition of the east side of the dam, where the river once flowed.
In January, the river will be rerouted back to the east side, where it will remain for the rest of the project.
At Glines Canyon Dam, water is spilling through four notches in the structure.
By Nov. 1, the contractor plans to deepen those notches by another 4 feet, Maynes said, meaning that some 15 feet of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam will have been removed.
Nov. 1 marks the beginning of the first fish window.
No work can occur in the river during fish migration periods, which last for 5½ months of the year.
Removal of electric transmission lines began Oct. 14 and is still under way, Maynes said.
