SEATTLE - Down at the bottom of the Ballard Locks we found an old watch.
"If it was still ticking, I think the manufacturer would want me on a commercial," mused the Corps' Dru Butterfield.
The watch had been ravaged by the forces of salt water, and so has the locks. That's why Corps officials annually drain them to clean them up, and inspect them for damage. The most visual work takes place in the tunnels of the big locks where volunteers like John Derby are hard at work.
"I'm scraping off barnacles in the Lake Washington Ship Canal," Derby proudly proclaimed. "I wanted to just check off my bucket list," he explained."
The barnacles became a serious problem for the Corps when scientists studying protected salmon found that the young fish migrating out of Seattle's fresh water lakes to Puget Sound were getting roughed up in the lock's tunnels.
"They were kind of being pushed up against those barnacles," said Butterfield. "They were being descaled, which can be an avenue for death or introduction of viruses or injury to the fish."
It takes a lot of elbow grease and it's not for anyone afraid of tight places, but it doesn't take long for workers to scrape off the locks' razor sharp plaque. But it will two weeks to complete all the rest of the work on the doors and gears that keep one of the state's busiest waterways up and running.
