It has been a tough summer for salmon all across Washington, especially at one of the state's prime breeding grounds in Leavenworth.
The city's "Icicle Creek" is not living up to it's name.
"It wasn't Icicle Creek at all," said Steve Croci of the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife's (FWS) Leavenworth hatchery.
The ongoing drought raised temperatures in Icicle Creek to over 70 degrees and lowered water levels.
The combination is deadly for fish. A thousand of the fish were dying at the hatchery every day earlier this summer. FWS officials had to euthanize 160,000 young salmon to contain the spread of the disease.
"Environmental conditions were not favorable," said Croci. "They pushed us over the edge we had to make some drastic changes."
Those changes included something hatchery workers had never done before.
They built a temporary dam on a dry creek channel. Then they installed a large a pump that sends used water flowing from the hatchery to fill that channel. The water seeps through the ground and into wells, where it cools and is then pumped back into the hatchery, refilling the tanks with healthy recycled water.
"This is unique, for sure," said Croci. "It's kind of a novel way of doing it. We've been talking about it for a while."
FWS officials say the the $200,000 experiment is going "swimmingly." It is believed to have saved up to 1.2 million salmon. It's a victory in an ongoing battle against drought and climate change, one officials plan to celebrate at Leavenworth's upcoming Salmon Festival.
The fix is a temporary one, but if it remains successful, it could be installed permanently.
