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<br />33 <br />Lake Cle Elum DaOm - is an earthfill dam 165 feet high and, <br />including the dam, a main <br />dike, and 3 smaller saddle <br />dikes sited along the crest <br />of a terminal moraine, <br />contains 1,411,000 cubic <br />yards of material. The <br />Bureau of Reclamation <br />(BOR) operates the dam to <br />provide water storage and <br />flood control on the Cle <br />Elum River. BOR releases <br />water from the dam in the <br />fall to provide lake <br />capacity for winter and spring snowmelt and when the lake fills to <br />storage capacity. Water released into the river increases volume and <br />velocity that can overturn floats, rafts, canoes, and kayaks when <br />unexpected. <br /> <br />KRD High Line Canal flume – Kittitas Reclamation District (KRD) <br />installed a flume on the High Line Canal that drains into the Yakima <br />River across from Bristol Flats. KRD also developed the boat launch <br />facility across from the flume in Bristol Flats for flume maintenance <br />purposes. <br /> <br />The flume discharges <br />water from the canal into <br />the river for 1-2 days in <br />mid-April when KRD is <br />charging the system and <br />after Labor Day when <br />water is discharged <br />constantly to aid in flip- <br />flop – the process of <br />modifying irrigation <br />operations to allow the upper Yakima River levels to drop to a more <br />natural value during spawning season so that the fish eggs remain <br />covered with water through the winter. <br /> <br />KRD may also discharge water into the flume during the summer if <br />there are any operating problems that arise that create a need to <br />bypass the canal – an event that happens very rarely. <br /> <br />Water discharged into the river by the flume creates a surge or wave <br />that can upend any watercraft in the vicinity of the flume including <br />recreational floaters, rafters, canoes, and kayaks. KRD monitors <br />activity on the river to make sure there will be no impacts on <br />recreational users before discharging any water into the flume. <br /> <br />Ellensburg Water Company Diversion Dam and Fish Ladder – is <br />operated by the privately owned Ellensburg Water Company that <br />began operation in 1885 and currently supplies water from the <br />Yakima River to fill 24 miles of canals with 225 lateral ditches. The <br />dam diverts water from the Yakima River into the canal, known as <br />the Town Ditch, that flows through Ellensburg to the southeast <br />before terminating at the Wippel Wasteway (known as the <br />Government Ditch) <br />about 1 mile east of the <br />confluence of Wilson <br />and Cherry Creeks. <br /> <br />Reecer, Cooke and Parke <br />Creeks augment water <br />flow in the Town Ditch <br />as well as return flow <br />from the Cascade <br />Irrigation District and <br />the Kittitas Reclamation <br />District (KRD) systems. <br />Today, the Town Ditch is the largest single water diverter in <br />Washington State, irrigating more than 10,000 acres, half of which <br />produces timothy hay, and providing water for lawns in Ellensburg. <br />When properly treated to meet Department of Ecology (DOE) <br />standards, Ditch water will eventually help recharge the aquifer that <br />provides Ellensburg’s potable water. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) operates an automated hydronet <br />station near the diversion dam that automatically transmits flow <br />data every 15 minutes by satellite to BOR offices to determine