Diversion In Tongue River Near Acme Power Plant Removed

The Tongue River near the site of the old Acme Power Plant is flowing a little bit differently than it has in the past.

Contractors have removed the old diversion that was once used to divert some of the water into the power plant’s underground cooling tunnels.

The power plant closed back in the mid-1970’s, and once that happened the diversion became useless.

It was later discovered that it was interfering with aquatic species migration in the area.

Carrie Rogaczewski is the District Manager for the Sheridan County Conservation District.

She says while the diversion was being removed, there were some complications with snowstorms and snowmelt, which caused the water level in the river to rise, so it’s possible that workers either may not have removed everything that needed to be removed, or if they accidentally over-did it.

“We do want to take another look at it when flows go down so we can really get eyes on it and see if there’s additional tweaking or some finish work that needs to be done, but for the most part, the parts of the diversion that were extending into the water column have been removed and replaced with a rock ramp in order to prevent any movement of the channel and other destabilization.”

The money to pay for the diversion removal was provided through a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Before Photo:

After Photo: