CHANDLER, AZ — The Salt River Project's Consolidated Canal near Cooper Road and Chandler Boulevard is flowing with gallons of water for SRP customers.
Over the weekend, however, it was flowing with dead ducks, according to ABC15 viewer Valerie Herman.
She said more than 30 duck carcasses were found either inside the canal or along the canal gates on Sunday.
"It seems like some of them had been there for a while, but it was a collection of trash and mess," she stated.
She also said more than eight dead ducks were found upstream on the canal near Gilbert and Warner.
ABC15 took her questions and concerns to SRP and they said they are aware of the dead ducks.
In a statement, they wrote, "SRP monitors the water in our canals for various pollutants and have found nothing unusual in the area."
They notified Arizona Game and Fish as well, which told ABC15 that they believe the ducks are being exposed to certain toxins that can lead to botulism in water treatment recharge ponds, causing different forms of paralysis.
The presence of certain toxins has not been confirmed, however. Also, avian botulism cannot be directly transmitted to humans, but there are other concerns like bacteria.
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Herman just wants to make sure that the dead ducks are being removed in a timely fashion by professionals.
Arizona Game and Fish said they sent SRP material on how to address the situation.
SRP delivers raw water to cities via canals while cities treat the water and deliver it to customers.
The City of Chandler told ABC15 that they're also aware of the dead ducks, but the water in the canals has not been treated by one of their plants yet. Once water is treated and safe to use, the City of Chandler doesn’t use the SRP canals to distribute water to its customers.
Their water plants also have a mechanism to retrieve large debris found in the water entering the treatment plant, such as dead birds, twigs, and fish, before the water goes through the treatment process.
