In the cool dawn of a February morning, a crew is assembling to do maintenance work on a water canal in Tempe. This crew will spend the rest of its life in the canal, removing the plants that stop water from flowing. That’s because the workers aren’t human — they’re fish. The Salt River Project, which operates this canal, estimates that about 44,000 of these fish live in its canal system. This morning, it’s adding about 1,000 more. The fish are a species of carp called white amur. They’re native to Asia and especially adept at eating the aquatic vegetation that grows along the walls of the canal. Those plants can slow down the water and make it harder to send to faraway users of the canal or gum up the intakes that divert water in different directions.

Other canal maintenance news:

• Edhat (Santa Barbara, Calif.): Santa Barbara Water Commission warns aqueduct could lose 87% of capacity without funding​​
• The Union-Democrat (Sonora, Calif.): Critical storm damage halts flows in Tuolumne County’s main water canal