| The flow from Electric Lake into Huntington Creek was fast and furious for two days this last week. This is Huntington Creek as it flows under the Rilda Bridge. |
A flushing flow from Electric Lake was held on June 6 and 7 in Huntington Creek. The runoff was remniscent of spring runoffs in the past. This water release was an effort to improve and rejuvenate the creek’s fish habitat.
Currently, water is released into Huntington Creek at a general rate of about six cubic-feet-per-second.
For approximately 24-hours, water was released at a much higher volume. Water flow was increased gradually, to minimize the initial impact.
The exact rate of release reached, water flow approached 200 cubic-feet-per second.
Irrigators downstream of Electric Lake were notified of the flushing flow exercise, and encouraged to make necessary arrangements in order to fully utilize the excess water being released from the lake.
PacifiCorp conducted the flushing flow in coordination with the US Forest Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Huntington Cleveland Irrigation Company and Emery Water Conservancy District.
PacifiCorp utilizes water from Electric Lake in the cooling process at its nearby Huntington Power Plant.
The company provides electric service in Utah as Rocky Mountain Power.