Crew tunnels under Squaw Creek

A work crew diverted the creek to punch a waterline across the creekbed. photo by Jim Mitchell Developer Bruce Forbes, assisted by Gary Tewalt and crew, completed the difficult task of "tunneling" a water line under Squaw Creek on Friday afternoon, October 8. The project was closely observed, with city officials and local residents lining both banks of the stream.

The project had begun two weeks prior (The Nugget, September 9, 2004), then stopped when it became obvious that the amount of soil to be moved would exceed the maximum allowed under the permit issued by the Department of State Lands. A new permit process was required before work could restart.

The eight-inch water main was buried nine feet below the dry half of the streambed. Then the stream flow was diverted into a new channel that had been dug on the formerly dry side.

However, the diversion was only partially successful as hay bales, backed up with streambed rocks and gravel, allowed considerable seepage through to the original streambed. The project was complicated, according to Tewalt, by the release of additional water upstream by the local irrigation district.

Releasing most of the water into the new channel caused discoloration of the water and for considerable distance downstream the water was chocolate-colored. Substantial turbidity was also created in the original channel from digging residue. Hay bales below the construction site placed to filter the water were ineffective in reducing turbidity at that point.

Oregon Administrative Rules, Chapter 340 allow a maximum of 10 percent turbidity 100 feet downstream from the worksite, measured every four hours. During the peak of the work the turbidity approached closer to 90 percent, but the rules allow the standards to be exceeded for one monitoring level per 24- hour work period.

The work was finished through the streambed and the water slowly cleared when the flow was no longer disturbed.

The crossing was complete. Workers and observers went home for the weekend confident that the water line could be connected well ahead of the October 15 deadline without further disturbance of Squaw Creek.