Salt River Project will begin draining canals on the south side of the Salt River Friday to perform annual maintenance work.
During the dry-up of the South, Consolidated, Eastern, Tempe, Western and Highline canals, SRP officials said they will check for evidence of invasive quagga mussels, which were found last year at the head of the SRP canal system near Granite Reef Diversion Dam in northeast Mesa.
The south-side dry-up will continue through Dec. 20. A dry-up of SRP canals north of the Salt River will take place from Jan. 8 to Feb. 7.
Valley residents who use canal banks for recreation may note increased construction and maintenance activities and should under no circumstances enter the canals, SRP said.
Weed-eating white amur fish used to control aquatic vegetation in the canals will be relocated to other parts of the SRP system during the first few days of the dry-up schedule, starting Saturday morning, the project said.
