Irrigators on Butte Creek and the Sacramento River have worked with Family Water Alliance, Inc. to install two state of the art fish screens that will protect endangered salmon. The Butte Creek 55 diversion screen will ensure that critical endangered species are protected and that the landowners can continue to irrigate. The project was funded by the Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Fish and Wildlife Proposition 1 water bond funds.
The second project for Colusa Indian Community Council (CICC) was a diversion relocation. The old diversion was not structurally sound so CICC worked with FWA to secure funding for the fish screen and CICC providing the funding for the new pumps. With funding from the Proposition 1 water bond as a grant from California Department of Wildlife and by the CICC, FWA was able to install a new self-cleaning retractable screen on a new pumping station.
Two of the biggest obstacles in getting fish screens installed is funding and environmental permitting. Over the past 2 decades, FWA has been successful getting funding to install over 40 fish screens on rivers and streams throughout the Sacramento Valley and Central Valley. The environmental permitting process is continually changing and thanks to help of our state and federal elected officials FWA was able to get all the necessary environmental permits in time to meet the limited in-water work window allowed by state and federal agencies.
Both screens were designed and built by Intake Screens, Inc. of Sacramento. The process for project design and grant application took several years and the efforts of many people. The types of projects are critical to ensuring the future of irrigated land and efforts to restore the fisheries in the Sacramento River system. Family Water Alliance is proud to have worked with state and federal agencies and tribal governments over the last two decades on these important projects.
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