Painted Rocks Dam, Fall Repairs and Maintenance – Public Open House Meeting 9-19 Hamilton

Painted Rocks Dam Outlet Concrete Repairs – Public Open House Meeting Thursday, September 19th, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Bitterroot River Inn and Conference Center.

The DNRC has scheduled a maintenance and repair project at Painted Rocks Dam for early this fall. The maintenance and repair project will not affect delivery of any contract water. Releases of contract water from the reservoir will follow its normal course and the contract water should be fully delivered by the end of the water rights legal period of use on September 30th.

The maintenance and repair project is needed in order to complete the repairs initiated this past spring. The gate seals will be adjusted and concrete repairs will be made within the outlet tunnel.

The gate seals will be tested and adjusted (if needed) the week of September 30th. Adjustments will be made to the gate seals in order to allow the gate to tightly seal allowing better access and working conditions inside the outlet tunnel. Minor flow changes will occur during this period.

The concrete repair work is currently scheduled for October 7th through the 10th. Temporary interruptions of up to 4 hours the will occur on the 8th, 9th and possibly the 10th.

In preparation for the repairs the outflows from the reservoir will be decreased by a series of staged reductions. Based upon the current reservoir inflows, it is anticipated the fall inflows this dry year will be approximately 50 – 60 cfs. Therefore, reservoir outflows will be reduced to 60 cfs on October 1st, and further reduced on to 30 cfs on October 7th. These staged reductions are designed to allow fish to move to deeper pools, thereby reducing entrapment during the temporary flow interruptions.

After the repairs are completed the outflows from the reservoir will be adjusted to match the reservoir inflows.

Painted Rocks Dam Outlet Concrete Repairs – Public Open House Meeting Thursday, September 19th, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Bitterroot River Inn and Conference Center 139 Bitterroot Plaza Drive, Hamilton, MT 59840-Tammany Room. Bitterroot Inn telephone number (406) 375-2525.

A public open house meeting in planned to discuss this upcoming repair project. The repairs to the outlet concrete are scheduled to take place the second week in October, 2013. Please contact James P. Domino, MT DNRC State Water Projects Bureau at jdomino@mt.gov, and (406) 444-6622 for more information about the open house.