Editing Columbia Basin Project

{{Short description|American irrigation project}}
[[Image:Columbia basin project.JPG|thumb|The Columbia Basin Irrigation Project]]
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

The '''Columbia Basin Project''' (or '''CBP''') in Central [[Washington (state)|Washington]], United States, is the [[irrigation]] network that the [[Grand Coulee Dam]] makes possible. It is the largest water reclamation project in the United States, supplying irrigation water to over {{convert|670000|acre|km2}} of the {{convert|1100000|acre|km2}} large project area, all of which was originally intended to be supplied and is still classified irrigable and open for the possible enlargement of the system. Water pumped from the [[Columbia River]] is carried over {{convert|331|mi|km}} of main canals, stored in a number of reservoirs, then fed into {{convert|1339|mi|km}} of lateral irrigation canals,<ref name=75years>{{cite journal |last= Bloodworth |first= Gina |author2=James White |year= 2008 |title= The Columbia Basin Project: Seventy-Five Years Later |journal= Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers |volume= 70 |issue= Annual 2008 |pages=96–111 |issn= 0066-9628 |url= http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/yearbook_of_the_association_of_pacific_coast_geographers/v070/70.bloodworth.html |accessdate= 30 May 2013 |doi=10.1353/pcg.0.0006|s2cid= 128572803 |doi-access=  |url-access= subscription }}</ref> and out into {{convert|3500|mi|km}} of drains and wasteways.<ref>{{cite web |title= Project details - Columbia Basin Project |publisher= [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] |url= http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Columbia+Basin+Project |accessdate= 25 October 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150215125327/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Columbia%20Basin%20Project |archive-date= 15 February 2015 |url-status= dead }}</ref>  The Grand Coulee Dam, powerplant, and various other parts of the CBP are operated by the [[Bureau of Reclamation]]. There are three irrigation districts (the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District, the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, and the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District) in the project area, which operate additional local facilities.<ref name="usbr.gov">{{cite web |url=http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp |title= |accessdate=2012-08-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141003030357/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp |archivedate=2014-10-03 }}</ref>

==History==

{{more citations needed|section|date=July 2013}}

The [[U.S. Bureau of Reclamation]] was created in 1902 to aid development of dry western states. Central Washington's [[Columbia Plateau]] was a prime candidate&mdash;a desert with fertile [[loess]] soil and the [[Columbia River]] passing through.

Competing groups lobbied for different irrigation projects; a [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]] group wanted a {{convert|134|mi|km}} gravity flow canal from [[Lake Pend Oreille]] while a [[Wenatchee, Washington|Wenatchee]] group (further south) wanted a large dam on the Columbia River, which would pump water up to fill the nearby [[Grand Coulee]], a formerly-dry canyon-like [[coulee]].

After thirteen years of debate, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] authorized the dam project with [[National Industrial Recovery Act]] money.  (It was later specifically authorized by the [[Rivers and Harbors Act]] of 1935, and then reauthorized by the [[Columbia Basin Project Act]] of 1943 which put it under the [[Reclamation Project Act]] of 1939.)<ref name="usbr.gov"/> Construction of Grand Coulee Dam began in 1933 and was completed in 1942. Its main purpose of pumping water for irrigation was postponed during [[World War II]] in favor of electrical power generation that was used for the war effort. Additional [[hydroelectric]] generating capacity was added into the 1970s. The Columbia River [[reservoir (water)|reservoir]] behind the dam was named [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake]] in honor of the president. The irrigation holding reservoir in Grand Coulee was named [[Banks Lake]].

After World War II the project suffered a number of setbacks. Irrigation water began to arrive between 1948 and 1952, but the costs escalated, resulting in the original plan, in which the people receiving irrigation water would pay back the costs of the project over time, being repeatedly revised and becoming a permanent water subsidy. In addition, the original vision of a social engineering project intended to help farmers settle on small landholdings failed. Farm plots, at first restricted in size, became larger and soon became corporate agribusiness operations.<ref name=75years/>

The original plan was that a federal agency similar to the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] would manage the entire system. Instead, conflicts between the Bureau of Reclamation and the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]] thwarted the goal of both agencies of settling the project area with small family farms; larger corporate farms arose instead.<ref name=75years/>

The determination to finish the project's plan to irrigate the full {{convert|1100000|acre|km2}} waned during the 1960s. The estimated total cost for completing the project had more than doubled between 1940 and 1964, it had become clear that the government's financial investment would not be recovered, and that the benefits of the project were unevenly distributed and increasingly going to larger businesses and corporations. These issues and others dampened enthusiasm for the project, although the exact motives behind the decision to stop construction with the project about half finished are not known.<ref name=75years/>

==Geology==
[[Image:Drum-Heller-Channels.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Drumheller Channels, {{convert|10|mi|km}} south of [[Potholes Reservoir]], are examples of [[channeled scablands]]]]
The [[Columbia River Drainage Basin|Columbia Basin]] in Central Washington is fertile due to its loess soils, but large portions are a near [[desert]], receiving less than {{convert|10|in|mm|spell=in}} of rain per year. The area is characterized by huge deposits of [[flood basalt]], thousands of feet thick in places, laid down over a period of approximately 11 million years, during the [[Miocene]] epoch.<ref>Orr (1996), pg. 288.</ref> These flood basalts are exposed in some places, while in others they are covered with thick layers of loess.

During the last ice age [[glacier]]s shaped the landscape of the [[Columbia River Plateau]]. Ice blocked the Columbia River near the north end of Grand Coulee, creating glacial lakes [[Glacial Lake Columbia|Columbia]] and Spokane. Ice age glaciers also created [[Glacial Lake Missoula]], in what is now [[Montana]]. Erosion allowed glacial Lake Columbia to begin to drain into what became Grand Coulee, which was fully created when glacial Lake Missoula along with glacial Lake Columbia catastrophically emptied.<ref>Orr (1996), pg. 305.</ref> This flood event was one of several known as the [[Missoula Floods]]. Unique erosion features, called [[channeled scablands]], are attributed to these amazing floods.

==Component units of the project==
===Grand Coulee Dam Complex and Lake Roosevelt===
*[[Grand Coulee Dam]] (1950)<ref name=DEIS>Draft Environmental Statement, Columbia Basin Project, Washington; Columbia Basin Project, Ephrata, Washington; Department of the Interior, (INT DES-75-3), Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior; Washington, D.C.; 1975</ref>
**Right (north) Powerhouse
**Left (south) Powerhouse
**Third Powerhouse (1974) was added as a north wing of the dam from the original Right powerhouse.<ref>Roise, Charlene (16 September 2014). "Powerhouse: Marcel Breuer at Grand Coulee". docomomo-us. Retrieved 18 July 2017.</ref> This addition expanded power generation by 300%.<ref>"Grand Coulee Powerplant". U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2015.</ref>
* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake|Lake Roosevelt]]
* [[Grand Coulee Dam#Pump-generating plant|Grand Coulee Pumping-Generating Plant]] (1953) consist of twelve pump units with combined power of {{convert|593|kW|hp|abbr=unit}}, of which six are reversible pump-generator turbine units with a combined generating capacity of {{convert|314|MW|hp|abbr=unit}}.<ref name="Columbia Basin Project Plan">{{cite web |title=Columbia Basin Project Plan |url=https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=438 |website=Bureau of Reclamation |publisher=United States Federal Government |access-date=15 October 2024 |ref=HHH}}</ref> The pumps are used to move water from Lake Roosevelt into Banks Lake, from which it can be either sent south into the Columbia Basin Irrigation system or returned to Lake Roosevelt by the reversible generating pump-turbines to create additional electricity for the grid.<ref name=DEIS/>

===Feeder Canal, North and Dry Falls Dams, Banks Lake===
*[[Banks Lake]] (1951) is an artificial impoundment in the Upper [[Grand Coulee]]. It is {{convert|27|mi|km}} long and {{convert|1|to|3|mi|km}} wide. The coulee has nearly vertical rock walls up to {{convert|600|ft|m}} high. [[File:North Dam (4307003306).jpg|thumb|North Dam on Banks Lake with Feeder Canal]]
**[[North Dam]], near the town of [[Grand Coulee, Washington|Grand Coulee]], has a maximum height of {{convert|145|ft|m}} and a crest length of {{convert|1,400|ft|m}}. 
**[[Dry Falls Dam|Dry Falls]], or South Dam, near Coulee City, has a maximum height of {{convert|123|ft|m}} and a crest length of {{convert|8,880|ft|m}}. The crest elevation of both dams is {{convert|1580|ft|m}}. Project water enters Banks Lake through the Feeder Canal from the Pump-generating plant.<ref name=DEIS/> The outlet for Banks Lake is the Main Canal near [[Coulee City, Washington|Coulee City]]. It is near the east abutment of Dry Falls Dam.<ref name=DEIS/> Banks Lake serves as an equalizing reservoir for storage of water for irrigation and can be used to for power generation.
*Feeder Canal (1951) links North Dam at northern end of Banks Lake with the siphon outlets for the Grand Coulee Pumping—Generating plants discharge lines. It is {{convert|1.6|mi|km}} long running in an open concrete-lined canal, and a twin-barrel concrete cut—and-cover conduit.<ref name=DEIS/>
*Main Canal (1951) is {{convert|8.3|mi|km}}, including {{convert|2.4|mi|km}} of lake sections.<ref name=DEIS/>
*Bacon Tunnel and Siphon (1950) is a {{convert|1037.5|ft|m}} long sealed Siphon under the eastern extension of the Dry Falls draw.<ref name=DEIS/>[[File:Pinto Dam.png|thumb|Aerial view of Pinto Dam, Washington, USA.]]
*[[Billy Clapp Lake]] ([[Pinto Dam]] – zoned earth & rockfill) (1951) aka (Long Lake Dam) is at the south end of Long Lake Coulee. The reservoir is {{convert|6|mi|km}} long and {{convert|0.5|mi|km}} wide.<ref name=DEIS/>
*Potholes Reservoir

==Irrigation==
When it was built, Grand Coulee Dam was the largest dam in the world, but it was only part of the irrigation project. Additional dams were built at the north and south ends of Grand Coulee, the dry canyon south of Grand Coulee Dam, allowing the coulee to be filled with water pumped up from the Columbia River. The resulting reservoir, called [[Banks Lake]], is about {{convert|30|mi|km}} long. Banks Lake serves as the CBP's initial storage reservoir. Additional canals, [[siphon]]s, and reservoirs were built south of Bank Lake, reaching over {{convert|100|mi|km}}. Water is lifted {{convert|280|ft|m}} from Lake Roosevelt to feed the massive network.

The total amount of the Columbia flow that is diverted into the CBP at Grand Coulee varies a little from year to year, and is currently about 3.0 million acre-feet. This is about 3.8 percent of the Columbia's average flow as measured at the Grand Coulee dam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ijc.org/php/publications/html/columbia/columbia_cy01.htm|title=Columbia River - Annual Report 2001|website=www.ijc.org|access-date=2018-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223000035/http://www.ijc.org/php/publications/html/columbia/columbia_cy01.htm|archive-date=2017-12-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>  This amount is larger than the combined annual flows of the nearby Yakima,<ref>https://pubs.usgs.gov/wdr/2005/wdr-wa-05-1/pdf/wa00103ADR2005_Figure60.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> Wenatchee,<ref>https://pubs.usgs.gov/wdr/2005/wdr-wa-05-1/pdf/wa00103ADR2005_Figure56.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> and Okanogan<ref>https://pubs.usgs.gov/wdr/2005/wdr-wa-05-1/pdf/wa00103ADR2005_Figure52.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> rivers. There were plans to double the area of irrigated land, according to tour guides at the dam, over the next several decades. However, the Bureau of Reclamation website states that no further development is anticipated, with {{convert|671000|acre|km2}} irrigated out of the original {{convert|1100000|acre|km2}} planned.<ref>[http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/columbia.html Bureau of Reclamation website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206014532/http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/columbia.html |date=December 6, 2008 }}</ref>

Interest in completing the Columbia Basin Project's {{convert|1100000|acre|km2}} has grown in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. One reason for the renewed interest is the substantial depletion of the [[Odessa aquifer]]. Agricultural operations within the CBP's boundaries but outside the developed portion have for decades used groundwater pumped from the Odessa aquifer to irrigate crops.<ref name=75years/>

== Hydroelectric power ==
[[Hydroelectricity]] was not the primary goal of the project, but during [[World War II]] the demand for electricity in the region boomed. The [[Hanford Site|Hanford nuclear reservation]] was built just south of the project and aluminum smelting plants flocked to the Columbia Basin. A new power house was built at the Grand Coulee Dam, starting in the late sixties, that tripled the generating capacity. Part of the dam had to be blown up and re-built to make way for the new generators. Electricity is now transmitted to Canada and as far south as [[San Diego]].

==Environmental impact==
One environmental impact has been the reduction in native fish stocks above the dams. The majority of fish in the Columbia basin are migratory fish like salmon, sturgeon and steelhead. These migratory fish are often harmed or unable to pass through the narrow passages and turbines at dams. In addition to the physical barriers the dams pose, the slowing speed and altered course of the river raises temperatures, alters oxygen content, and changes river bed conditions. These altered conditions can stress and potentially kill both migratory and local non-migratory organisms in the river. The decimation of these migratory fish stocks above Grand Coulee Dam would not allow the former fishing lifestyle of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] of the area, who once depended on the salmon for a way of life.

The environmental impacts of the Columbia Basin Project have made it a contentious and often politicized issue. A common argument for not implementing environmental safeguards at dam sites is that post-construction modifications would likely have to be significant. Tour guides at the Grand Coulee dam site, for example, indicate that a "fish ladder might have to be {{convert|5|mi|km}} long to get the fish up the {{convert|550|ft|m}} needed, and many fish would die before reaching the upper end" thus no fish ladders were built. Advocates of remedial measures point out that such steps would still be better than the status quo, which has led to marked die-offs and the likely extinction<ref>NWFS 2003 Update Summary, p.5</ref> of several types of salmon.

There are a number of issues regarding the runoff of irrigation water. The project region receives about 6 to {{convert|10|in|mm}} of annual rainfall, while the application of irrigation water amounts to an equivalent 40 to {{convert|50|in|mm}}. The original plans did not sufficiently address the inevitable seepage and runoff.<ref name=75years/> In some cases the results are beneficial. For example, numerous new lakes provide recreation opportunities and habitat for fish and game. In other cases [[agrochemical|agricultural chemicals]] in the runoff cause pollution.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

==Economic benefits and costs==
The irrigation water provided by this project greatly benefits the agricultural production of the area. North Central Washington is one of the largest and most productive tree fruit producing areas on the planet. Without Coulee Dam and the greater Columbia Basin Project, much of North Central Washington State would be too arid for cultivation.

According to the federal Bureau of Reclamation the yearly value of the Columbia Basin Project is $630 million in irrigated crops, $950 million in power production, $20 million in flood damage prevention, and $50 million in recreation.<ref>{{cite web |title= The Story of the Columbia Basin Project |publisher= [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]] |url= http://www.usbr.gov/pn/project/columbia_details.html#ten |accessdate= 25 October 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090513103154/http://www.usbr.gov/pn/project/columbia_details.html#ten |archive-date= 13 May 2009 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The project itself involves costs that are difficult to determine. The farms that receive irrigation water must pay for it, but due to insufficient data from the Bureau of Reclamation, it is not possible to compare the total cost paid by the Bureau to the payments received. Nevertheless, the farm payments account for only a small fraction of the total cost to the government, resulting in the project's agricultural corporations receiving a large water subsidy from the government.<ref name=75years/> Critics describe the CBP as a classical example of federal money being used to subsidize a relatively small group of farmers in the American West in places where it would never be economically viable under other circumstances.<ref name=75years/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Renewable energy|Energy}}
*[[Tributaries of the Columbia River]]
*[[Cities on the Columbia River]]
*[[Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River]]
*[[Columbia Basin Initiative]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/cbp}}
*[http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/crbp/ University of Idaho Libraries Digital Collections- Columbia Basin Project] Photographs of the construction of the Columbia Basin Project, with a special emphasis on the construction of Grand Coulee Dam.
*[http://www.nwcouncil.org/history/ColumbiaBasinProject.asp History of the CBP] from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council
*[http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/fcrps/salmonrecovery.html Official explanation of Salmon Recovery and Salmon Death-minimizing activities required] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627065923/http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/fcrps/salmonrecovery.html |date=June 27, 2007 }} by the [[Endangered Species Act]]
*{{Cite web |author=West Coast Salmon Biological Review Team |date=2003 |url=http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/trt/brt/background_and_introduction041905.pdf |title=Updated Status of Federally Listed ESUs of West Coast Salmon and Steelhead |publisher=National Marine Fisheries Service}}
*[[Historic American Engineering Record]] (HAER) documentation, filed under Grand Coulee, Grant County, WA:
**{{HAER |survey=WA-139 |id=wa0632 |title=Columbia Basin Project |photos=58 |cap=11 |link=no}}
**{{HAER |survey=WA-139-G |id=wa0700 |title=Columbia Basin Project, Visitor Arrival Center |photos=13 |data=19 |cap=2 |link=no}}

{{Columbia River}}

[[Category:Columbia River]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Irrigation projects]]
[[Category:Irrigation in the United States]]
[[Category:United States Bureau of Reclamation]]
[[Category:Water supply infrastructure in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Moses Lake, Washington]]