How Fish Survive Hydro Turbines

An on-location primer on the science & engineering of getting fish around dams.
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Special thanks to @PNNL and @WallaWallaUSACE for hosting us!
All of our lives benefit in some way from this enormous control over Earth’s freshwater resources. But those benefits come at a cost, and the price isn’t just the dollars we’ve spent on the infrastructure but also the impacts dams have on the environment. This kind of balancing act is really at the heart of what a lot of engineering is all about.
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Practical Engineering is a KZbin channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos!
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DISCLAIMER
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This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.
SPECIAL THANKS
____________________________________
This video is sponsored by Nebula.
Special thanks to the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com/creator
Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License
Source: • Elexive - Tonic and En...
Video by Grady Hillhouse
Edited by Wesley Crump
Produced by Ralph Crewe
Graphics by Nebula Studios

[@PracticalEngineeringChannel]

🌌Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: go.nebula.tv/Practical-Engineering 📖Signed copies of my book are back in stock at store.practical.engineering 🌊Huge thanks to Pacific Northwest Nation Laboratory and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District for hosting my team and sharing the incredible work they do.

[@HubertHuijbregts]

I would like to subscribe to Nebula but it only takes payments through a credit card. Couldn't find another payment option like Paypal. I don't have a cc anymore.

[@pat8988]

This video ought to be shown in the dam’s visitors center!

[@attilajuhasz2526]

Hi Grady! Another awesome and inspired video, well done. I say this with the greatest respect for you and tremendous love for your documentary style: Please, please stop saying 'impact' and 'impacts' when you mean influence, effect, result etc. With such a rich source of descriptive words in English, it's insulting to hear an engineer (engineering communicator, no less!) sound like a marketing executive! All the best, from an Australian fan!

[@tanelviil9149]

at 3:14 bro that seems highly dangerous.. anything caught in that rotating thing and its done. Why are there no protective glass or anything there, so someone's hair or what ever cant possibly get in there ? I hope someone doesn't bring their kids to work.. a little kid putting their hand there and the kid will be instantly dead.

[@iamdmc]

what do you guys have against turbans? It's an important religious symbol for some... and what's this juvenull juvenile business?

[@PNNL]

Thanks for coming to PNNL and sharing our hydropower and fish passage science with the world!

[@takingbacktheplanet]

o hey! either it's a russian troll farm or the actual PNNL! 😂lol jk - this was an amazing video, thanks for having Grady over, been following him since his beginnings basically and he sounds like not only a sound and smart and savvy engineer, but a pretty great guy (and extremely valuable member of society) in general also 😃 !!

[@workingguy6666]

Thank you, PNNL, so much for helping Grady teach us about the improvements. Some of us are so old school that the last updates we've seen on fish moving around dams included the old tanker trucks full of water and fish dumping them above the dams.

[@Alex_skittles1]

Bruh the real PNNL didn’t get the attention

[@AtomicBuffalo]

Thanks for sharing so much dam knowledge with Grady and us. I hope more folks check out your own channel to see what you do beyond dams.

[@beaub152]

What if you guys put a decoy predator above the juvenile pipe exit to scare away more birds of prey?

[@JustinDrentlaw]

We seriously need an extended cut, "second channel" video about your tour through the dam. I can not emphasize this enough.

[@EmmaHopman]

Ooh that would be great.

[@jaymiddleton4663]

Calm down buddy

[@thecrowcook]

@jaymiddleton4663 YOURE NOT HIS SUPERVISOR!

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

​@@thecrowcooktoo right, a supervisor would not have such a grand idea!

[@fightthepowerman]

​@goosenotmaverick1156 Yes comrade. Smash unjust hierarchies.

[@angelikalindenau943]

I am so thrilled to have found this video. Several years ago I worked on a project relating to the Ardnacrusha power station on the River Shannon in Ireland. Turns out that the fish pass was only built 60 years after the hydroelectric station began its work - with the result that most of the salmon and eels that used to travel far upstream to reproduce had fallen victim to the impossibility of getting over the hurdle. With the remedial work a hatchery was installed that eventually helped restock rivers in Ireland and abroad, e.g. the Rhine. That hatchery attracted me like a magnet and I followed the complete cycle - and fell in love with the hatchlings. Knowing that the whole business can be managed so much better now and the negative impact on the fishes reduced considerably gives me great joy.

[@takingbacktheplanet]

thanks for the excellent reply. x) 🤩

[@ottavva]

back in 2009 I saw the ''fish ladder'' in Pitlochry, Scotland, with a set of 34 cascading pools, enabling the inbound salmon to dodge the power dam - guess this is similar to what is shown here

[@andrewomalley2688]

As Fish biologist who works closely with hydropower dams, I've enjoyed learning some of the principals of engineering and hydraulics from your videos. Its great to see some videos come full circle back to what us biologists can teach the engineers so we can all work together to come up with better solutions.

[@eric13hill]

Thanks for coming to PNNL! It is great that you came here.

[@DaneJessen101]

PNNL is SO cool! It's absolutely amazing what the National Labs do to make our lives better. The same goes for Grady, 100%! Keep up the great work everyone 👍

[@gus473]

Thanks for having him and crew! 😎✌️

[@ninjaswordtothehead]

As a layperson, thank you all for allowing us some insight into some of the inner workings of something so important.

[@clayel1]

a comment from themselves!

[@hybrid.roodragon1226]

"Best dam tour guide Ive ever met". Thats one way to get around youtube trying to censor you to hell😂

[@f4rtsman425]

"Dammed if you do Dammed if you don't" -the fish

[@gregorholmes1837]

How much does the fish plan cost and what’s your reduction in power because of it ?

[@russianbear0027]

​@@gregorholmes1837 however much it costs it's much much less than the migratory fish going extinct would cost. As for power generation it doesn't seem to have a large impact per the video especially as new turbines that don't mulch fish are being deployed.

[@ryanreedgibson]

I'll be damned.

[@darealmrog]

​@@ryanreedgibson I don't give a dam.

[@bmanpura]

Dam jokes

[@oceancon]

As the FERC inspector of fish passage facilities at non federal dams here in the northeast US (retired), it was gratifying to watch the Corps efforts in trying to balance energy generation and natural resources at their power facilities. We do not have the size and scale of those facilities here so the fish passage designs are much smaller but no less important and much more varied. If you're a hydro guy you know its the only real renewable power resource. It's too bad the Klamath River projects could not be retrofitted similarly and instead just removed.

[@Faheel89]

Plz bro saport me

[@geoffreystevens2916]

I believe that videos like this increase the quality and intelligence of humanity. Thank you for your services.

[@Based_transition_Clocker]

They don't. The sort of person who finds a video like this interesting was born intelligent. Intelligence can't be learned.

[@far2ez]

@@Based_transition_Clocker The sort of person who finds a video like this interesting is just someone who is fascinated by curiosities. On the other hand, homeless are starving on the street while taxpayer dollars go to getting lamprey where they need to go. While the video overall was cute, it never went into the economics of why it's actually more cost-effective this way. So bears upstream won't go extinct - how much tourism revenue are they bringing to Washington, anyway? What's the ecosystem look like? Who are the actuaries that determined that the ramifications of screwing over the salmon outweigh millions on making a fish bible? Real intelligence considers more than just a fascinating curiosity at hand, but broader implications. Without an actual discussion here as to what those implications are and what work was done to consider them, this is just a puff piece for the location and a feel good place for the humanity behind it. You don't need to be a genius to think dams are interesting, but you need to be pretty arrogant to consider this kind of puff piece to be an intellectual pursuit.

[@Based_transition_Clocker]

@@far2ez you sound extremely triggered.

[@jasongoodrich9055]

I once wrote a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers in grade school about how juvenile salmon got down. I was doing a science project about some people wanting to have the Snake River dams removed. I was so excited to get a letter back from an engineer answering my question.

[@50potatoes]

its not just some people. there are real and powerful arguments for getting those dams removed

[@jasongoodrich9055]

This was in the 90’s. There were not that many people in favor of removal. Even now it is a small group pushing for removal. But my comment was really about an experience I had with engineering as a kid that really meant a lot to me. There is no reason to make it political. Just like there is no reason to make an issue as complex as dam removal political.

[@50potatoes]

@@jasongoodrich9055 nobody mentioned politics but you. i was simply stating there is more to the argument than “some people” and you shouldn’t discredit their valid opinion

[@jasongoodrich9055]

I never even expressed a position on the topic. I am simply sharing a positive and impactful experience with engineering from my childhood that related to the topic of the video.

[@cadthunkin]

I still cannot figure out why they have a bunch of train drivers in the military.

[@willstevenson4843]

"Best dam tour guide..." 😂 Well played Grady!

[@JoshuaC923]

😂😂😂 came here for this comment

[@ArmandoRamirez-yx5be]

Was gonna comment on this myself

[@shadowpenguin3482]

2:20

[@saucerset12]

I've seen a lot of dam videos, but may be one of the best dam videos I've seen in a while. Lots good dam information while showing plenty of happy dam people. Great dam video.

[@york2600]

As an Oregonian it's great to have one of your videos showing off how our dams work.

[@BallBusta]

Not gonna lie, these videos where you go to locations and talk about the science and engineering behind everything are my favorite.

[@marc8223]

Thank you for not lying.

[@1.N.F.1.N.1.T.3]

Tom Scott core lol

[@jettrom609]

@@1.N.F.1.N.1.T.3for real

[@Elbereth42]

I didn't think you were going to lie until you professed your innocence.

[@yoavallon]

He’s the new Tom Scott…

[@jarrodvonkchalee3821]

“Best dam tour guide I’ve ever met”. Well done

[@robertthompson3447]

Had to scroll down further than I expected to find this dam comment. 👍

[@AquaticGems]

That's an old joke from a long time ago. I can recall it being used in Chevy chases vegas vacation like 30 years ago when they're at the hoover dam

[@davidakridge2831]

I see what he did there!! 😂

[@Lizlodude]

The constant discussion of fish in a serious scientific context is amusing, but I think the animation in the background at 15:50 is my favorite. Also fish filters and fish pumps

[@SackamanjaroX]

Just wait till you find out about salmon cannons

[@me_smort5279]

and fish bible

[@bastiangugu4083]

I'm no engineer, but was always interested in this stuff. So glad I found your channel some time ago. I'm learning a lot, and sometimes things I didn't even think about. As I watch your stuff on Nebula, I always try to find your videos on YT afterwards and given them a thumbs up to heighten their visibility. More people need to know these things, even if only to really appreciate the work done by so many people in this field. Things most people take for granted and don't even think about.

[@Elemblue2]

This is the 22 minute answer to my how fish survive turbine question Ive been waiting for my whole life.

[@memed4509]

​@@RNE33_search_TGno

[@newtybot]

I wont lie; I been kinda curious

[@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii]

I would not survive it, my Wii Wii stucked in the turbine.

[@bubbleman2002]

@@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii Is that Nintendo's new console?

[@zumabbar]

3:20 man i don't think i'd be able to hold myself from touching those spinning shafts lmao

[@paradox...]

Man imagine having your favorite hot wheels car with you there... I couldn't resist

[@Pow3llMorgan]

Tempting as it might be one should never. However unlikely, there _could_ be a burr that could nick you pretty bad. As a machinist I'll say this: Never touch the spinning things. In fact, don't even put your hands near them unless absolutely necessary.

[@tyttuut]

​@@Pow3llMorganbut i wanna :(

[@zumabbar]

@@Pow3llMorgan that's why I'm glad I'm nowhere near these bad boys 😂

[@TheDarklingWolf]

The intrusive thoughts would be strong, that's for sure.

[@mikaelabourque7090]

Thanks for coming and working with my husband and his team, it was great meeting you guys! This turned out great. 🎉

[@ReinhardB100]

I like that somebody looked at that rotating deathtrap at 1:47 and said: "Eh, a simple railing should be fine!" X-D

[@Eve.n.t_horizon]

thats the safest rotating behemoth i have ever seen. the problem isnt the rotation, the problem is something getting caught in it. The surface is smooth so there is no risk of that.

[@notahotshot]

​@@Eve.n.t_horizon "The problem is something getting caught in it. The surface is smooth, so there's no risk of that." "Challenge accepted" ~ intrusive thought.

[@Eve.n.t_horizon]

@@notahotshot loll

[@JayVal90]

@@Eve.n.t_horizonUhhh that’s not true. A perfectly smooth rotating surface like that will pull things right along with it

[@Eve.n.t_horizon]

@@JayVal90 pray tell, what law of physic applies to a smooth surface that gets greased often to PULL things along? Because its not friction.

[@mitchelldurward8863]

Grady is awesome. He's so passionate and wholesome. No one else could make me care about dams.

[@JustinDrentlaw]

Feels like a missed opportunity to say: No one else could make me give a dam.

[@OutbackCatgirl]

@@JustinDrentlaw opportunistic punsters unite!!! ✨

[@9HighFlyer9]

​@@bljdeep He's always had that delivery.

[@OutbackCatgirl]

@@bljdeep bruh god forbid men have any intonation in their voiceovers instead of the monotone you clearly prefer 🙄

[@jiversteve]

On KZbin you cannot be certain of your audiences level of comprehension. Brady has developed a technique that is understandable by a wide range of comprehension from young children to adults. It’s all about science communication. You probably don’t listen to the closing minutes of his presentation, that’s OK, but being a good science communicator is a skill that few people have.

[@Purple-uo2je]

As a Hermiston local working in electric infrastructure, this is SUPER cool to watch! Thanks for coming out here!

[@Faheel89]

Plz bro saport me

[@thoughtful_criticiser]

I have visited as tourist and been taken around as an engineer a 3.2GW hydropower station. When stood next to the turbine you don't so much hear the noise but feel. It vibrates through your entire body. Being shown around as an engineer I saw more technical areas where tourists never got to see. Unfortunately they closed the visitor centre during the pandemic and have demolished it.

[@marsrocket]

I love hearing about human beings using science and engineering to make life for fish easier. It’s a welcome change from everything else going on in the world these days. Hats off to the staff at PNNL.

[@AnonymousOtters]

Fantastic video. I'm a hydrogeologist working in WA on fish and hydropower infrastructure, and its super difficult to condense knowledge into usable tid bits that educate the public. These videos are a fantastic resource for us

[@Faheel89]

Plz bro saport me

[@peepeepoopoo5145]

Showed this to my girlfriend who studies environmental science. She mentioned a book called The Organic Machine by Richard White, on the history of the Columbia River, and has details on the dam and fish as well. Seems like many of the details covered in this video are also touched on in the book!

[@Tasz_]

Today I learned that fish don't read signs. Another great video thanks.

[@warlocc-paul]

He said "generally". This implies that some do.

[@trevorhanlin4247]

"Best dam tour guide" NICE

[@davemo04]

😂

[@trevorhanlin4247]

@@davemo04 This is a great dam video.

[@WanderTheNomad]

Probably just a coincidence(cuz it's a common joke), but it reminds me of Percy Jackson.

[@trevorhanlin4247]

@@WanderTheNomad Which interation, the book, the movies or the most recent series? I have not read the books, my younger brother did and I later watched the movies with my own children. haven't watched the series past the first 30 min of the first episode.

[@WanderTheNomad]

@@trevorhanlin4247 The books, or really just one book from the initial series. I forget which one, but they were at a dam making this dam joke 😆 and it kept going over one character's head.

[@elliotsmith9812]

Great show. I wish more people understood how complicated our civilization is. I once had the pleasure of attending a new product release for a PLC. Among the few hundred participants were people who ran water and sewage systems, electric grid engineers and technicians from the entire Eastern US. It was fantastic.

[@takingbacktheplanet]

yeah. i used to be pretty "hippie" about things, (you know - screw money, technology truly does/did/might not bring us much in the end, and peace and love and animals are great and all) but eventually the way too many of people over there thought just pissed me off. i try to understand and respect EVERY aspect of life, society and civilization now (and glad i did!), and while dams are dam' great, i am very happy to see endeavors like this one 😃.

[@elliotsmith9812]

@@takingbacktheplanetRight. If only we would all get high and stop F'n everything up. I have heard that for so many years.

[@tiberianexcalibur]

I’m still appalled at how people built tall skyscrapers that are still standing today.

[@diesel5357]

I love that you cover Hydro content, been working in Hydro ever since I left school 10 years ago and its my absolute passion, thanks for spreading awareness on efforts we make to make sure they're as environmentally friendly as possible whilst still providing electricity.

[@Phartonium]

I've been watching your videos for a few years now. Before, I never payed much attention to all the feats of engineering which surrounds us in evereyday life. You made me interested in them, and sparked a new joy in me when I pass by engineered structures everyday. Thank you from France, for your excellent work!

[@erfquake1]

Grady, last time I toured the Bonneville hydroelectric dam (very close to this one in the video) there were ten enormous turbines in the main room, and not a single one of them was generating electricity at the time despite the roaring Columbia River outside. The tour guide said that's often/typically the case, explained as "economics," though I can't understand how free clean energy could be any more economical. I wasn't about to lock horns with the guy during a tour, but it would be great if you could do a deep-dive on why turbines are typically/often just left off. Thanks!

[@billfsmusic]

I have heard that hydro generation is more expensive than the wind turbines that line the eastern gorge, so that the wind power is used preferentially. It is good to have a hybrid power system. I am not any kind of expert, I just recall hearing this.

[@pcmacd]

Awesome, awesome, awesomeness. You answered a zillion questions I had about fish migration and dams. I'm a degreed mechanical engineer, and did not feel talked down to, nor would a welder, plumber, electrician, housewife, grade school kid or carpenter for that matter. Absolutely excellent approach and tone. Perfect level of detail. I don't know how you do it. I've generated all manner of adult technical training, and I could not possibly have done such a well rounded job as well as you have, sir. You rock. I'm just sayin'... ...

[@DalBraillinsford]

I was just at this dam a few months ago as a road trip pit stop. You answered basically all of the questions I was wondering at the time. Great video! I'm excited for more on fish ladders.

[@USwesternEnviro]

I think this is your best video yet. I learned a ton, and have a new appreciation for the care some dam operators are taking to balance care of our precious natural resources with our needs for stored fresh water and energy. Thanks!

[@hornetscales8274]

Always knew about "fish ladders" Learned (and even understood a bit) even as a toddler, but never gave a thought to the "other end" of it. Really, REALLY informative video. My only regret to seeing this is not being able to go on the tours WITH you. Great work, none the less!!!!

[@kappagrapes]

Aww, you're having so much fun when you give that intro line over the industrial sounds! It really makes me happy seeing people make videos about things they're passionate about and have fun doing it.

[@empressassassin9975]

This is one of my favorite videos you've made! I really enjoyed the look at science and engineering in the field as well as seeing you talk to the various researchers at the facility!

[@gizmobowen]

Great job Grady. Wish I knew you were in my neighborhood, I would have said hi! This is such a complex and important issue for peoplein the northwest, I'm glad you've given it such a thorough review. I worked at Rocky Reach dam during a summer internship over 30 years ago and we were collecting flow velocity profile data for the inlet of the turbines to improve fish screen design. The designs at the time had a serious problem with fishing being impinged on the screens and we were working hard to improve survivability. The current designs may be complicated to maintain but they are critcal to the success of the overall system. Thanks for the coverage.

[@BananowyDoktorXOXOXO]

Not gonna lie, when I saw the title, I though that you're going to make a small scale turbine at your house and put some goldfish through it 👀

[@im1random263]

Would have been interesting though

[@GlassOfMilk45]

I spent 2 years at the USGS performing the field work and managing the Total Dissolved Gas instruments on McNary and all 4 of the Lower Snake Dams. These sensors inform how much spill is allowed during snowmelt timing to ensure TDG is not excessive, which will kill the smolts.

[@jimmyjames2022]

A long time curiosity of mine answered very nicely, how fish get through hydro structures (in addition to fish ladders). Very glad to know the science, engineering and overall commitment to assure these fish survive. Amazing the changes in turbine design are so successful at keeping fish alive.

[@spawnofyakub8390]

Thank you for these videos! I just started working in hydropower 2 years ago and your channel has been instrumental in not only educating me, but my company's interns as well.

[@croatoan8143]

I am desperately jealous of the person that gets to count and identify fish through a window all day

[@lsswappedcessna]

it's like fishing without the hooks!

[@robumf]

I have a book for you by Dr. Seuss.

[@seanhagerty3562]

Do you get to take a break? Identifying the specie, the size, the number pass...that's one busy job!

[@Lordskeep]

They say the last guy that had the job went insane, so they replaced the job position with a computer.

[@pedrocruz4409]

Thanks, Grady! Love your channel! I think in a different life I would have been a “good” civil engineer ‘cause I’m entertained and fascinated by your videos. Great work!

[@keromblum]

I live on the Colombia near Bonneville Dam but have never been to McNary. Great to see so many people working hard to retrofit our power infrastructure to be less impactful to the natural processes of the river. Great video!

[@henningerhenningstone691]

Even though this was already over 20 minutes long, it felt like merely a preview video. So much "they showed me this, they told me that" without going into much detail, it's crazy just how involved this whole topic is. Others here have said it already and I agree that an extended-cut would be extremely interesting for sure!

[@elijahkerrigan5567]

I used to live right above this dam, those shotgun blasts during daylight hours get old fast 😅 but we always understood it was for scaring the birds away from the fish and as a fisherman I figured it was worth the headache.

[@paulc6471]

This man seems genuinely happy to talk about engineering.

[@deborahbourque1434]

Fascinating and so well done! Lots of brilliant, dedicated and practical professionals at PNNL and at the dams, making a difference (generally out of the public eye). Thanks for the meticulous attention to detail and thorough "reporting!"

[@andrewbartelheimer6127]

This was an awesome video and very well done. I learned a lot from my dad on the engineering behind fish safe pumps and even got the opportunity many times as a kid to go with him to test and inspect the pumps (he is a Biological Systems Engineer that specializes in fish passage). This video was cool to see the additional engineering to protect fish while enabling human use of the waterways.

[@Malusdarkblades11]

I always loved water infrastructure and found the fish transportsystems interesting!

[@jdsoftwaredesign]

Great video! I've had the privilege of working for both Walla Walla USACE and PNNL and they both do great work.

[@Katylest]

The quality of your content is just fantastic. Interviews, tours, detailed explanations. Fascinating stuff.

[@makennacornwall3288]

Having grown up on the Columbia River, I remember school field trips to tour Wells, Chief Joseph, and Grand Coulee Dams. And also the push to get fish ladders built on the dams. Salmon conservation was and still is a big part of the scientific culture of Washington

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Living in Oregon it's greatly impacted how much our salmon runs flourish & how our waterways naturally function. This is making progress. Our biggest mistake was moving away from nuclear energy options

[@rbrtcrowther]

A Turban is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. A Turbine is a turbomachine with at least one moving part called a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. There is a very big difference between a Turban and turbine .

[@aformofmatter8913]

They are pronounced the same way in certain accents, just like how some accents pronounce pen & pin the same

[@peterhughes3648]

Brilliant, thank you for making this. This is one of the best engineering sites on KZbin.

[@lucky1time811]

Waiting for you to do a series on oil/gas wells. Exploration, drilling, logging, reservoir simulation, productions, completions, etc. there are so many aspects with a plethora of engineering knowledge packed into one field. Petroleum engineering has so many aspects and I love everything about it!

[@iris4547]

never heard someone say turbans so often in my life.

[@Stafernisy]

Where is that from? Like I don’t know if this is regional or individual lol. I hear wind turbine often but never wind turban.

[@kermehderg]

Look at the absolute JOY of that civil engineer at 1:45. He's a 4 year old at Disney World.

[@3lit3MIAU]

I absolutely loved watching the documentary! Please please more!!! Can't wait for the video on the fish ladders. Also an extended cut of the tour of the facility like another person already mentioned would be awesome!

[@Billybobble1]

This was an amazing watch, the amount of effort and thought into learning to live cohesively with the environment on display here is stunning. Thank you PNNL, you are saving the world. Thank you Grady and team, more please.

[@Mo-mu4er]

Political take, but this is an excellent use of our taxes, and I love to see all the progress they've made, and are still making!

[@McTroyd]

I remember first reading about that salmon ladder decades ago, but I was today years old when I finally understood how it worked. As interesting as the dam is in itself, thanks for including the fish ladder, and I look forward to your forthcoming video about it. 👍

[@texhunter1820]

Back in the in the 1990's I was working for a company doing asbestos abatement at McNary Dam. Asbestos was used extensively as thermal insulation on cooling lines inside the turbines. The was asbestos insulation in most of the electrical components. There was also sound absorbing coatings made with asbestos on various surfaces to reduce noise. Since McNary spans the border between Oregon and Washington, there is a line inside the dam marking the border. Employees have to keep track of the time spent in each state for taxes and other labor expenses.

[@sw8741]

This is so much better than hearing whining people scream "Tear down the dam!" I hope fish passage becomes more and more efficient, not only so people stop complaining but for the fisheries to thrive.

[@blueline15]

Pretty cool you were able to come to my backyard and show how these dams work and the effort going into helping the fish. Spent most of my life here and have passed McNary dam countless times.

[@mitterdoo]

Me and my family would pass the McNary all the time when passing through the Columbia Gorge for trips. So exciting to finally see the inside! Great video, Grady!

[@nathansmith1085]

I'm really glad you made this video! I always wondered how dams effected fish or how fish got by them. Thanks!

[@Yossarian480]

This video is awesome. I wrote a paper related to this issue in college and I thought I knew quite a bit about it. This video showed me so much more detail about the engineering behind these dams. Thank you for covering this subject!

[@luketmarx]

Thank you for coming to visit my hometown! We have a lot of science/engineering things here. I expect your next video will be showcasing some of the efforts out at Hanford.

[@Piaszczota]

Thank you so much for bringing up such an important topic! It would be so great to have such structures installed in every hydro power stations

[@jcran42]

As someone who works in the hydropower industry, I love this series. Keep making awesome videos Grady!

[@ericlotze7724]

9:24 I’m so excited! I was reading up on Fish Ladders (and then Eel Ladders) and all that, *as well as their effectiveness* , to try and see if there is a such thing as “green hydropower”. This will clear things up more! Granted I need to read actual papers and whatnot, and of course the construction “cost” notwithstanding it seems like they can somewhat work. The main bits i am unsure on especially are the non-Salmon (or other “big name” wildlife), so eel ladders being mentioned has me excited. Another Bit: Controlled Sediment Release was mentioned a while back on the news, i need to read up on it, but basically allowed a *little* flooding to keep the sediment flowing / make the river *slightly* more natural. Granted you may have mentioned this in the video, if so ill edit this out lol, enough rambling back to watching!

[@Uncle-rhynchus_mykiss]

The effect of lost sediment is a really good point! The Columbia River estuary has been heavily degraded from loss of new sediment and changes in flow regime. It equates to an approximately 70% loss of estuary habitat because these dams alter the system so drastically. Also, I'm glad you think about non-salmonid passage. Fish ladders are selective and do not help less charismatic (i.e. forgotten) species that they were never designed for....

[@ericlotze7724]

@@Uncle-rhynchus_mykiss Let me see if KZbin takes the link, but i'll grab that NPR bit on the sediment stuff, it was really neat. I'll put a quote here, then the link in the next comment in case they don't take it: "SEVIGNY: Sandbars were once common in the canyon, built by the sand, washed down in annual spring and summer floods. Then in the 1960s, the dam was built, and beaches started to vanish. Chapman says that's a problem not just for river runners but also native plants and animals. CHAPMAN: There's kind of some calm areas. And the back of the eddy is kind of tucked in behind the sandbars, called backwaters or return channels, that are a critical habitat for a bunch of the native aquatic species. SEVIGNY: That includes four endangered native fish. In the '90s, Federal river managers started to experiment with artificial floods, ramping up the water released from the dam over several days. These floods are small compared to what used to come down the river but four or five times higher than typical dam releases. It worked."

[@ouch1011]

I just drove by the McNary dam yesterday, as well as Bonneville and The Dalles dams. Hydroelectric power is a big deal for us in the PNW since the majority of our power comes from it.

[@workingguy6666]

Grady, and everybody at the dam and river system who helped inform this video: OUT OF THE PARK video and education. Thank you all so much!

[@johnathankorba5095]

It was fantastic to watch you look so flabbergasted about how involved and important this type of infrastructure is. It as much as anything gave me a new perspective on a process and mindset I already found important. Thank you for sharing this.

[@bradmetcalf5333]

Man. You are a blessing my man. Content of this quality is hard to come by. Thank you.

[@ed273.17]

Fantastic fantastic video! You gave equal space to the ecological and utility needs around this structure and showed that the people in charge are reasonable and smart about addressing both. That's the kind of ingenuity that makes me hopeful for the future!

[@turtledove41]

This is an extremely informative video and addresses an important topic as fish passage on the snake river and other dams has gotten more and more attention, McNary Dam and the Columbia River system of locks and dams which stretches from the Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho should really have a video of its own talking about the benefits of the dams and the drawbacks to the ecosystem, focusing on McNary dam tells one part of the story but the entire system really deserves to be looked at for context

[@JustHear4DaPopkorn]

I'm from Northern Ontario (land of the Dam) and I'VE LITERALLY ALWAYS WONDERED THIS BOUT FISH.

[@andrewwilson1781]

I used to live in Umatilla Oregon which is just east of the dam and mcnary. I remember as a kid going to the little view room and watching all the fish swim by. So awesome to see this dam in a video!!

[@Skye-Cabbit]

What a cool video! I’ve been up there to see the fish jumping up the ladder, it’s a truly cool experience! Even still, i Learned so much from this video!! Thank you

[@aidankeller1717]

My dad works at PNNL in the cyber security department. So that's cool that you're teaming up w/ a lab that's local to me.

[@sn0tkore]

Im so impressed by this. The amount of effort they put in, the scale of the engineering and the openness to talk about it. Great!

[@wattheheck6010]

I toured this dam in late 1980's. Pleased to learn PNNL continues to learn and improve its mission, operations, maintenance while teaching the world.

[@DC-go5mc]

Wow! Great video. I designed some instrumentation for Corps Of Enginners test programs in 2000 at the Bonneville and Libby Dams. I was amazed at the size and scope of what they were doing. It is astounding how far they've progressed in the twenty years since then.

[@Alex-sz2tq]

I am a student in civil engineering in Québec, where our electricitie comes from hydropower. It's very interesting to learn about those important things. Thank you for those greats videos!

[@azarellediaz4892]

Hello Grady, thanks for this great educational video. I love that it shows what is being done to right the mistakes of the past in a format that doesn’t demonize any person or agency, yet conveys what was wrong and how it’s being made right. Since you show the turbines used for power generation I have a question, have you considered making a video about these spinning giants and how they would be replaced if a catastrophe partí destroyed the dam? Those are very large components and I don’t see large access doors in any dam that would allow to bring a new turbine, or new generator into the bowels of the dam.

[@asaxander740]

I live in the Tri-Cities about an hour or so from McNary Dam and I think its so cool that you traveled to Eastern Washington to shoot this video. If you have the time in the future you should Visit the Hanford Site. It is one of the first Nuclear reactors built in this country and the Bomb used on Nagaski was built there.

[@ABLovescrafting]

Great video, thank you. And I'm really looking forward to the fish ladder video!!

[@Kargoneth]

I am appreciative of the research done to try to balance everything.

[@eplumer]

this a great episode, Grady. Thanks for letting us learn about fish passages.

[@luce6799]

Super interesting to see the ways that fish and river animals are considered for dams, and how the infrastructure is changing to better suit them! The existence of a fish window also makes me very happy! Thank you for the video, great and informative as always!

[@Splarkszter]

I think this is the most informative video on this channel so far. I love it!

[@bosschedraak701]

Thank you for covering this, I’ve wondered about this for ages!

[@larrygwinn6649]

Thanks for the video, thru the 80's and 90's we would go to one of the dams on the Columbia to watch the the fish ladders. It all ways made a great place for a picnic. All so help build the the juvenile fish barge fuel station.

[@CyanTiger]

Super great production. I really like how you showed the various disciplines coming together. Super hard work for sure.