If you looked at the Santiam Canal in Albany in the last day or two, you might have thought that it wasn’t running as full as it usually is.
Albany’s small hydropower generator in the Vine Street water plant has never been a big factor in the energy picture, but lately it has played no role at all.
A few days ago residents along Albany’s Eighth Street Canal were wondering why the decorative waterway was nearly dry. By Friday the usual water flow, scant as it is, appeared to be back to normal.
Albany’s small hydropower plant has been shut down for more than a year, which I didn’t discover until I asked about it this week. And I doubt it will ever operate again.
On a random bike ride in the industrial section of central Albany a month ago, I found myself on the 25th Avenue bridge across the Santiam Canal. And because of what I saw there, the subject of nutria came up.
Once again this fall, we’re seeing one result of the deep drawdown of Green Peter Reservoir: Very turbid water in the Albany Santiam Canal.
A few moments on the Santiam Canal
On a bike ride Friday, I took the single one-way lane that is Vine Street from Fourth to Third Avenue when some yellow things in the Santiam Canal caught my eye.
Tags: Santiam Canal, softballs, Vine Street water treatment plant