Water Resources - Recent Project

During a winter storm, debris barreled through the Middle Fork Hood River, washing away the riprap, vegetation, and streambank that protected the Ice Fountain Water District’s spring box. As part of an emergency work effort, the riprap around the retaining wall was removed, and the area under the retaining wall was injected with grout to capture spring water flowing into the adjacent river. Then, by anchoring cabled riprap to the bedrock using micropiles and stabilizing the streambank, AP developed a monolithic structure that is able to better withstand flood events. AP’s biologists had only two weeks to analyze and produce two substantial documents to obtain environmental clearance for working in the area, which provides habitat to Endangered Species Act listed and candidate fish species. The project captured the 700 gpm of lost spring flows and then some, increasing the spring capacity by 25 percent to 3,100 gpm.