Investigation of fish screen cleaning by air burst and water jet systems

Project ID: 1710
Principal Investigator: Kent Walker
Research Topic: Fish Passage and Entrainment
Funded Fiscal Years: 2017
Keywords: None

Research Question

The primary research question is to investigate literature to determine if current guidance on fish screen cleaning systems outline conditions where air burst systems are advantageous over water jet systems (or the converse). Following that, an inventory of Reclamation facilities will be assembled to be able to allow analysis of the facilities within our organization.

Need and Benefit

Reclamation currently has a few fish screening facilities in various stages of the design process, and are sure to increase this number in the future with current endangered or threatened species that are present in streams that contain agricultural, hydropower, recreation or other water diversions. While many existing fish screening facilities are located in Pacific Northwest or Mid-Pacific regions, there are water diversions located in all of Reclamation's Regions and this information can be used to identify screen cleaning systems that will be more likely to succeed. This study will also provide some insight into not only what is likely to be successful, but also some design components. Currently, TSC has designers that are familiar with the air burst systems, but very limited knowledge on the water jet systems. In addition, there does not appear to be a technical article that compares the performance of cleaning systems. Knowledge gained from this study and site conditions that favor one system over the other will provide a learning opportunity to facility designers that will allow Reclamation to optimize the water diversion design. Facilities that are not performing well result in hundreds of hours of operation and maintenance time spent manually cleaning the fish screen rather than having an effective screen cleaning system.

Contributing Partners

Contact the Principal Investigator for information about partners.

Research Products

Bureau of Reclamation Review

The following documents were reviewed by experts in fields relating to this project's study and findings. The results were determined to be achieved using valid means.

Investigation of fish screen cleaning by air burst and water jet systems (final, PDF, 925KB)
By Kent Walker, Jason Wagner, Eric Paquette, Rick Christensen
Research Product completed on September 30, 2017

This research product summarizes the research results and potential application to Reclamation's mission.

Investigation of fish screen cleaning by air burst and water jet systems (final, PDF, 925KB)
By Kent Walker, Jason Wagner, Eric Paquette, Rick Christensen
Research Product completed on September 30, 2017

This research product summarizes the research results and potential application to Reclamation's mission.


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Last Updated: 6/22/20