By Ron Brown & Associated Press
 
October 6, 2008
 
GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- The small reservoir created by the Savage Rapids Dam on the Rogue River is about to disappear forever.
 
On Monday crews from the Grants Pass Irrigation District began the final draw down of the 86-year-old dam before the $28 million removal project, which scheduled for next spring. With the 2008 irrigation season over, fish ladders are being de-watered and stop-logs atop the dam are being removed.
 
The dam is being removed to improve the passage of Rogue River salmon and steelhead. A 12-pump irrigation facility below the dam will be tested in November. If all goes well, the pumps will deliver about 140 cubic feet per second of water into 160 miles of canals, serving more than 8,000 customers.
 
GPID Manager Dan Shephard says the pumps will replace the dam with it's old turbine-powered pumps and gravity-flow ditches. A 36-inch water line will also extend across the river on a new steel bridge to carry water to ditches above Interstate 5.