Eklutna tailrace

Kinda trite, but I was passing by the Eklutna Tailrace the other day, and thought it looked kinda nice. You know that spot on the Old Glenn on the way out to the Butte where the little powerplant thingy and the hatchery are? The water being pumped out of the plant looks really clear right now, and my curiosity was perked. It'll probably be worse vis than I am guessing, and the bottom is likely to be shallow and boring, and there probably won't be much in the way of life in it, and it will probably be cold as a witch's teat, but best case scenario?
It's water coming off a power plant, which has the potential for being somewhat warmer than it otherwise would be (I've dove in power-plant water before in Hawaii and it was much warmer than the already warm water around it-quite nice). It looks fairly clear from the surface, in fact perhaps clearer than Whittier on a crummy day, and much clearer than most non-glacial lakes tend to look in the summer, so who knows, it might not be so bad. It could be 10 or more feet deep since I can't see the bottom from the surface, and the banks contour rather sharply into the drink. The banks up where the water is being pumped out of the plant are strewn with large boulders, so the bottom could be rocky as opposed to muddy. And it is right next to a salmon hatchery, meaning there could be some baby salmon and their associated predators in there.
I highly doubt it, but has anyone ever taken a dip in there? I've almost always found freshwater dives up here to be a bit disappointing (except Summit Lake in Hatcher's Pass-that was cool), but I'm still curious about this place. After all, exploration, even that of the mundane, is what diving is all about, right?

Sounds like a cool dive.
I live down in Ketchikan and I am finishing up teaching a DM course for a Naval Officer from D.C.
and he has been raving about our diving. I did a lot of diving in Lake Superior and I miss some fresh water dives

I dove in Eklutna Lake and it had approximately 2-3' of deep slime and quite messy. You must have your buoyancy for this activity. Mostly fishing gear on the bottom. Was this the location you were intending to dive?

no, the eklutna tailrace is where some of the water from Eklutna Lake is drained through pioneer peak and is propelled through the Eklutna Hydroelectric Planet on the Old Glenn Highway next to the Knik River. The water coming out of the plant is much more clear than the lake, and is likely to be a bit warmer too. There is a small fish hatchery about 100' downstream of the power plant water outlets.

Ah yes, under the power plant. There still is a great deal of turbulence during power generation times. Not sure if they'd be kind enough to give you a schedule for whatever day of diving you select? Is it private, state or fed property? Just wondering. The folks there are knowledgeable and very nice. Power plant people gave me a complete tour one day when I showed up there. It is quite amazing. Don't know bout DEC rules of the area aside from fishing, hunting & hiking.