Your PUD News Release

Rocky Reach Dam to be featured on Dirty Jobs Nov. 17

Chelan County PUD
News Release
11/12/2009

Everybody’s favorite working guy Mike Rowe finds out what it takes to make clean hydropower and keep fish safe at Rocky Reach Dam in the Nov. 17 episode of the Discovery Channels’ Emmy-nominated show "Dirty Jobs."

The one-hour episode at 9 p.m. ET/PT shows Rowe struggling to help PUD crews maintain one of the dam’s big generating units. Viewers will see him join PUD crew members as they squeeze into a cramped, cold and wet space to remove insulation from part of the generator. Rowe also tries his hand at changing the oil in the 1.2-million-pound generator.

Rowe also helps PUD Fish and Wildlife crews tag baby salmon so they can be tracked as they make their way to the ocean as part of survival studies. He also boats to Turtle Rock Island, just north of the dam, to search through fish droppings in a holding pond with a magnet for monitoring tags that might have fallen out of the fish.

“Dirty Jobs” producers first contacted the PUD in the fall of 2008 and filming took place over four days in April.

Rocky Reach is one of the three dams operated by Chelan County PUD, which generate about 2,000 megawatts of clean, renewable hydropower from water in the Columbia River and Lake Chelan in the center of Washington state. (One megawatt is enough electricity to power about 500 Northwest homes.)

The PUD welcomed Rowe and the "Dirty Jobs" crew to showcase the extraordinary effort of employees who keep the machinery running to produce affordable electricity and the extensive work done to care for the water and fish passing the dam.

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View video clips from the upcoming episode.

Visit the PUD’s online media room to download print-quality photos of the "Dirty Jobs" crew at Rocky Reach Dam.

Christy Shearer
Deputy Public Information Officer
Chelan County PUD
509.661.4258 office
509.421.4258 cell
509.661.8117 fax
christy.shearer@chelanpud.org