Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge

Project description

This culvert is located in a shallow valley with very little gradient. The water is typically slow to still, and can reverse direction with wind changes. The Smith-Root proposal included dewatering, lining the culverts with HDPE, attaching U-shaped steel flat bar electrodes, connecting to electronics housed on higher ground some distance away, and supplying a water surface jetting system to push fish downstream.

The barrier produced the required field and kept the invasive carp from moving. The water jetting system proved to be unsatisfactory mainly due to clogging of the pump intakes with vegetation and small fish, and it was abandoned.

In 2009, a record spring flood completely covered the culvert and submerged the control building three feet. Ice movement through the culverts damaged the liners. In 2010 the building was moved to higher ground and repaired, and in early 2011 the lining was replaced by a spray-on polyurethane coating. Another record flood in 2011 kept the entire culvert and roadway under water until November.