Monday, June 12, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.
But one year after the power company unveiled its plan to rebuild the Farad diversion dam 19 miles west of Reno, Trout Unlimited and Truckee River Flyfishers continue to have serious concerns.
They say the plan doesn't leave enough water in the river immediately downstream for fish and insects to survive.
The old dam washed out during the January 1997 flood. It diverted up to 400 cubic feet of water per second from the Truckee into a wooden flume that leads to Farad hydroelectric power plant.
The company is preparing an environmental evaluation of the project for the California State Water Resources Control Board. The study should be completed in October.
Under a proposed operating plan, it could leave as little as 75 cfs in a two-mile stretch between the intake and the power house for about three months each year.
"That's an inadequate amount of water to support life in that river," said Tom Smith, president of Truckee River Flyfishers. "At 100 cfs, you can walk across the river without getting your feet wet."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will do its own evaluation to determine how much water the fish need.
Company officials say if it weren't for water releases from their reservoirs to serve customers in Reno and Sparks, the fish would have no water during dry years. They add that under federal court decrees, the company is not required to leave any water in the river.
"Other than not diverting, I don't know what else we could do," said Craig Williams, Sierra Pacific staff engineer.
Construction plans call for a structure radically different from the old one. The previous dam was 12 to 15 feet high and blocked fish from moving upstream and rafters and kayakers from floating downstream.
The new dam would be built 600 feet upstream from the old one next to a natural, self-cleaning pool. The structure would be about 30 feet long and be at most five feet higher than the river downstream.
The remainder of the river channel width - about 70 feet - would be dedicated to fish passage. This passage would consist of a gently sloping field of large rocks and boulders where the fish could rest and hide.
In all, the company is prepared to spend $10 million on the new dam, with its insurance carrier paying 90 percent of the cost, the Reno-Gazette Journal reported Monday.
David Bobzien, president of Trout Unlimited's Sagebrush Chapter, said the company is making a good effort to improve the dam and its operation.
But he said anything built there will at times be a roadblock for fish and won't be compatible with 21st century values.
"Our community has a different relationship with the Truckee River than it did 100 years ago," Bobzien said. "We don't float logs on it, we don't dump metals into it, and we don't turn our backs on it anymore.
"Everything we're doing with economic development in the Truckee Meadows revolves around the river."
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