PORT ANGELES — A 300-yard stretch of the Elwha River off Crown Z Water Road will be diverted into a new channel next week.
The diversion is a small step in the massive Elwha River Restoration Project and removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, Olympic National Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said on Thursday.
Before the early 20th-century dams can come out, two water treatment plants must be built: the Elwha Water Facilities plant and the Port Angeles plant.
The river is being diverted, Maynes said, while the old surface water intake is dismantled and a new intake is constructed for the Elwha Water Facilities plant.
The contractor on the project is Watts Constructors LLC.
Watts workers are moving the river over into a new channel to leave a dry space in which to build the new intake.
The new, engineered channel is “fish-friendly,” since it will allow salmon to migrate through, said Doug Morrill, fisheries manager for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Also needed is a coffer dam, a temporary dam to divert the water, Morrill said.
Work on that dam will be under way on Monday.
The project will not affect nearby roads or traffic, Maynes added.
The river diversion is one facet of the $75 million cost of the water treatment plant construction, which began early in 2008 and is expected to take three years.
Building of the plants brings the Elwha closer to the 2012 start of the main restoration project, which is projected to cost $308 million, Maynes said.
The 108-foot Elwha Dam at 541 Lower Dam Road, about 8 miles southwest of Port Angeles, was built in 1913, creating Lake Aldwell.
Glines Canyon Dam, 210 feet high and 8 miles up river from the Elwha Dam, was built between 1925 and 1927 and created Lake Mills.
