Busy Week Underway. . . .

It's busy as usual around our office.  We have two special Board meetings planned this week. The first is Thursday morning at 9AM. The Board and staff will be reviewing the 2010 financial report and Schedule 22. Schedule 22 is the new Annual Questionnaire for Audit Assessment created by the Conservation Commission and the State Auditor's office.  The second meeting is Friday at 2 PM to review the status of the Cherry Creek project.  The project is moving forward, but has encountered some challenges in the last few weeks.

This week, we are also beginning to wrap up our election season. We've just issued our notice of automatic re-election of Ron Gibb pursuant to WAC 135-110-370. Ron was the incumbent and the only applicant who filed bythe deadline for the position. So, no poll site, absentee balloting, or mail balloting will be performed on March 17, 2011. Notice of the Automatic Re-election will be posted atthe polling sites (Cle Elum Senior Center, County Courthouse, and the KCCD office) and published in the Daily Record and Upper Kittitas County Tribune. March will bring the end of election season, as any applications for appointed position on our Board are due to the Washington Conservation Commission. Applications are available on our website and are due to the Commission by March 31, 2011. For further information, please contact the KCCD at 509-925-8585, ext. 4.

Construction continues both at Cherry Creek and at Keach-Jensen on Manastash Creek.  This week should bring some more testing and start up work at Keach-Jensen and a big push to complete the rock weirs at the lower Cherry Creek diversion site.  Alsok, last week some follow-up work at the MWDA/Consolidated Diversion occurred.  There have been some issues with controls and the low pressure blower over the winter season and a team of technicians and project staff worked on addressing those issues.  While that was happening, WDFW maintenance staff took advantage of the site dewatering to sluice out the built up silt.

Nearly 1,000 feet of 24" pipeline are part the project at Cherry Creek.  As of the end of last week, approximately two thirds of it was completed.

Two concrete manholes are part of the new piping system.  They were set yesterday, and the pipeline connecting them (that goes under Cherry Creek) was installed.

This photo is a great shot of the rock weirs at Keach-Jensen after a bit of snow late last week.

The project engineer, contractor and service technicians for the controls watch as the forebay is filled for the first time.  The fish screen is the inclined panel on the left side of the forebay.

While the MWDA site was dewatered for the work on the low pressure blower, WDFW maintenance staff sluiced out the silt that had built up last year.

AL