WVTER TO ACTION GRAND COULEE DAM AND LAKE ROOSEVELT U.S. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION- BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION -U.S. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ake Roosevelt has steadily gained in popularity as a summer tourist attraction. t High reservoir levels most years provide visitors with a rich variety of recreational opportunities. But many people are not aware of the full story behind Grand Coulee Dam and the great lake it created. This brochure explains the origin of Lake Roosevelt, why it was built and how it serves the people of the Pacific Northwest. It represents a unified effort on the part of the three federal agencies most involved in management and oversight of Lake Roosevelt and Grand Coulee Dam: the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. National Park Service. Who's responsible for what? The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built and operates the Columbia Basin Project including Grand Coulee Dam. While many parties with diverse needs and interests provide input in the pro­ ject's operation, Reclamation makes the final decisions. To contact a repre­ sentative of Reclamation, call (509) 638-1360 or write to Grand Coulee Project Office, Attention: Code 140, Grand Coulee, Washington 99133. The Bonneville Power Administration markets and distributes power gener­ ated at federal dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries. In 1980, a new federal law charged BPA with ensuring that the Northwest has an adequate sup­ ply of power, whether from hydroelectric dams or other generating resources. BPA schedules power generation at Grand Coulee Dam within constraints established by Reclamation that provide for the project's multipurpose benefits. For more information on BPA's role at Lake Roosevelt and throughout the region, call the BPA Public Involvement Office toll-free from Washington, Idaho and Montana at 1-800-547-6048, or from Oregon at 1-800-452-8429. Or write to the BPA Public Involvement Office, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon 97208. Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Arrival Center by night. The U.S. National Park Service man­ amounts of power to help meet the benefits they produce. The task con­ ages the Coulee Dam National Recrea­ demand for electricity throughout the fronting river planners has become tion Area. The Recreation Area includes Northwest and beyond. complex - a delicate balancing act the portion of Lake Roosevelt and adja­ Now, Grand Coulee Dam serves as a among the project's diverse values. cent shoreline that is not within the "peaking plant" as well, producing extra Colville and Spokane Indian Reserva­ power needed mainly in the morning and tions. Besides recreation, the National at night when people's use of electricity Park Service administers a reservoir surges upward. How Lake Roosevelt water shoreline special use permit program. The Columbia River flow ranges from Commercial recreation facilities and "high" to "low" between summer and is used services are also provided to the public winter: power managers must plan dam Today, virtually all the water in Lake by concessioners operating under con­ and reservoir operations to satisfy vari­ Roosevelt is spoken for. This isn't just tracts administered by the National Park ous needs for the water and so harvest running water: it means flourishing Service. For more information call (509) the greatest benefits from the river's crops, renewable energy at the flick of a 633-0881 or write Coulee Dam National tremendous resources. switch, marine highways, the best flood Recreation Area, P.O. Box 37, Coulee In winter - the period of lowest river insurance available, and much more. Dam, Washington 99116. flow-water released for power produc­ What follows is an item-by-item descrip­ tion exceeds the amount entering the The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is tion of the project's main purposes - reservoir, resulting in considerable responsible for coordinating the opera­ irrigation, flood control, and power pro­ "drawdown." In spring, when the tion of the major reservoirs in the duction. Fish and wildlife and recreation Columbia River begins its annual rise, up Columbia River Basin for flood control. needs, two other important benefits, are to 80 feet of empty storage space in the discussed here also. The level of Lake Roosevelt is lowered in reservoir forms a safety valve to absorb the spring to provide space for regulat­ the forces of spring flooding. Irrigation ing snowmelt runoff, then is filled gradu­ ally during May and June at the direction At about the time the river starts its The need for irrigation led to the crea­ of the Corps to control downstream annual spring rise, the irrigation season tion of Grand Coulee Dam and Lake flooding. Additional information about begins. When the powerful irrigation Roosevelt, and irrigation has been a pri­ the Corps' flood control responsibilities pumps located in the Grand Coulee mary benefit ever since. And for good can be obtained by calling the Corps' Pump Generating Plant are operating, reason: the Columbia Basin is one of the Grand Coulee Dam with Banks Lake in Wheel-line irrigation sprinkler system using water is channeled to irrigate crops as world's prime croplands. In 1948, the first Reservoir Control Center at (503) background. Columbia Basin Project water. 221-3741 or writing: USACE North far as 125 miles away. irrigation benefits were realized. Pacific Division, Attn: NPDEN-WM-RCC, The Columbia's prehistoric channel, tapers from a width of more than 500 feet A Historical Perspective P. O. Box 2870, Portland, Oregon the Grand Coulee, was dammed at both at its base to 30 feet at the top. Grand Coulee Dam is part of a much 97208-2870. ends, creating Banks Lake. This 27-mile- The dam forms a reservoir, Franklin D. larger plan to harness the power of a long reservoir is two miles south and 280 Roosevelt Lake, extending 151 miles to great river and turn a semi-arid desert feet above the level of the river at Grand the Canadian border, with 600 miles of into productive cropland. The physical Coulee Dam. Fed by 12 massive pumps Power and Plenty: An shoreline, an 82,000 - acre surface area, project had its beginnings in 1933, from Lake Roosevelt, Banks Lake can and nearly 10 million acre feet of storage providing employment for thousands of irrigate 1.1 million acres of semiarid Overview of Grand Coulee capacity. people in the depths of the Great Columbia Basin Plateau fanning out as One of the dam's most important jobs Depression. In subsequent years, the far as 125 miles south, to the Oregon Dam and the Columbia is the production of electrical energy. Columbia Basin Project has turned rela­ border. Basin Project Torrents of water rush through generat­ tively unproductive land into a substan­ Currently, the project irrigates about ing turbines near the base of the dam. tial, diversified farming area, and 540,000 acres, half the acreage autho­ The Grand Coulee Dam is a study in Sophisticated electronic equipment and provided power for homes, businesses rized by Congress. About two million superlatives. The key structure of the human expertise are combined in and industry throughout the West. acre feet of water are diverted annually multipurpose Columbia Basin Project, it minute-by-minute scheduling and oper­ Today an important side benefit of the from Lake Roosevelt for irrigation, mainly stands astride the Columbia River, the ation of the power-producing facilities. project - recreation - serves an in­ between May and September. fourth largest river in North America. During World War II, Grand Coulee creasingly important role in the region's All this development has borne more The dam is one of the largest con­ Dam played an important role in provid­ economy. At the same time, more tradi­ than good fruit. In 1984, for example, crete structures in the world, containing ing power for building ships and planes. tional and sometimes conflicting needs about 6,000 Columbia Basin Project nearly 24 million tons of concrete. It tow­ In subsequent years, its hydroelectric such as flood control, irrigation and farms earned $340.3 million for their ers 550 feet from bedrock to crest and generators have produced huge power production are relied upon for the crops -16.2 percent of the value of Washington's total harvest. The average In recent times, this life-giving river called because they have little capacity Fish and Wildlife crop value of each irrigated acre: $657. has also ravaged the area with floods. It to seasonally store water. Not only does Grand Coulee Dam and the seven These fertile lands bore everything from was partly for this reason - to allow a Lake Roosevelt hold water for its own other federal dams on the Columbia potatoes to peppermint - more than 60 human-induced pace to the river - that project uses, but its water releases are River have brought great benefits to the crops in all. the Grand Coulee Dam was built and coordinated to optimize downstream Northwest. They have also caused Who pays for this bounty? The Lake Roosevelt levels regulated. project operations as well. damage to the natural world, particularly Columbia Basin Project is designed to Grand Coulee Dam forms the BPA's obligation to repay the U.S. migrating salmon and steelhead. pay for itself mainly through power reve­ gateway for 74,000 square miles of river Treasury for project-related costs, while Not that dams were never operated nues. Part of it is paid for by the water drainage, an area substantially larger keeping Northwest power rates stable, with fish and wildlife in mind. Historically, users - the irrigators - who also pay for than the entire State of Washington. requires a delicate balance among all of about 10 percent of all appropriations for the operation and maintenance of the ir­ Grand Coulee, one of 11 dams on the the Columbia Basin Project benefits.