Stewardship

Working together to protect fisheries resources

The Skagit River and its tributaries support some of the healthiest salmon runs in the Northwest and form the only stream system in Washington to support all five species of Pacific Northwest salmon, as well as bull trout and steelhead.

Skagit PUD participates in local watershed management and planning efforts to protect in-stream flows necessary to maintain salmon spawning and rearing habitat while ensuring adequate water to meet our customers' current and future demands.

In 1996, the PUD entered into a memorandum of agreement with the city of Anacortes, Skagit County, the Swinomish, Sauk-Suiattle and Upper Skagit Indian tribes, Department of Ecology, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, that provides for coordinated water-resource management for the next 50 years and ensures minimum in-stream flows to protect fish habitat.

In 2009, we doubled our water filter plant's capacity at Judy Reservoir to address the growing and changing needs of our area. Along with this expansion, the PUD constructed a pumping station on the Skagit River to augment flows from four streams in the Cultus Mountains, which preciously were the primary source for our water supply. Pulling water from the Skagit enables us to fill Judy Reservoir when fish protection requirements limit diversions from the streams.

With its five 900-horsepower engines, the pumping station can deliver up to 36 million gallons per day from the river to Judy Reservoir. It ensures sufficient water is available to meet projected demands for the next 40 years.