PHOENIX — Over the weekend SRP crews worked to carefully move hundreds of white amur fish out of the canal system, to make way for heavy equipment and repairs.
The weed-eating fish are used to control the aquatic vegetation.
The canal system currently delivers water for about 2.5 million Phoenix metro area residents.
Sunday, crews worked to herd the fish in order to move them to another section upstream in the east Valley, while targeted the areas are emptied.
Suited up with special equipment, SRP crews corraled and moved the fish in SRP’s 131-mile valley canal system.
“Then we can drain the canal and pull out all the silt,” said Brian Moorhead, an environmental scientist.
The fish are then loaded onto hauling tanks that deliver them to other portions of the canal, while crews do maintenance on the canal line. The labor-intensive work is all happening along a several-mile stretch in Mesa and Gilbert.
“Very labor intensive for pulling out the fish,” said Moorhead. “They’re very good at getting by us, but we do want to get as many of them as we can.”
Throughout the years, they have found a lot of trash in the water, but from time to time, they’ll discover something out of the ordinary.
“Years ago we found a Corvette that somebody had donated to the canal,” he said. “I think that one was stolen.”
Regardless of what they end up finding underneath the water, moving the fish alone is a big job.
“We’ll catch them here and take them back upstream, where they can continue eating the aquatic vegetation,” said Moorhead.
After all, SRP is responsible for keeping its canal system in operating condition during normal water deliveries.
Each fall and winter, crews perform dry-ups on a rotating 10-year schedule on different portions of the canal system.
“These guys are very dedicated,” said Patty Garcia-Likens, SRP spokesperson. “They get here very early in the morning… they work throughout the day and it’s a month-long process.”
The work will continue until Dec. 20.
“It’s so important, because we deliver water to our customers every day,” she said. “As everyone knows we’re in a drought… so every drop counts.”
Garcia-Likens said their goal is to make sure that when we’re delivering this water to customers, that it’s done in the most efficient way. Meanwhile, they’re sending out safety reminders to the community.
“If you see our guys in these vests, and they’re walking up and down the canal, please stay away,” she said.
There are potential dangers.
“We’ve got heavy machinery out here,” said Garcia-Likens. “We have our crews doing their job, so I encourage people to not bike or walk on the canals that are undergoing this maintenance.”
And dumping your trash in the canals is a big no.
“This is your drinking water,” she said. “It’s important that the cities are able to take that water off these canals, treat it, and get it to your home.”
Once this project wraps up, SRP will prepare to start the next cleanup in another area of the canal system in January.
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