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Conservation Headlines
4/27/2001
Water still must be spilled to help fish
By Nicholas K. Geranios, The Associated Press
SPOKANE - Despite the drought and power shortage, a limited amount of water still must be spilled from John Day, The Dalles and Bonneville dams on the Columbia River to help migrating fish, the Northwest Power Planning Council decided yesterday.
The four-state planning agency recommended that water spills from other Columbia and Snake river dams be eliminated this summer to leave more water for hydropower generation.
The council, composed of representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, said reduced spills from the dams, plus conservation measures and emergency generation of hydropower that would lower reservoirs more than normal, should provide benefits to migrating fish while ensuring a reasonably reliable power supply this summer.
"Even with these actions, there remains about a 20 percent chance of power-supply problems this winter as a result of the drought," the council said.
In a normal year, there is enough spring snowmelt to allow water to be spilled through all the dams to help salmon and steelhead migrate to the sea while keeping enough in storage to meet summer power needs. That is not the case this year, when the mountain snowpack that feeds the Columbia and Snake is around 50 percent of normal.
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