Columbia River Program

The Columbia River has long lacked an overall management plan designed to address the water needs of people, such as irrigation and water supply, while also keeping enough water in the river to protect clean water, public safety, and fish and wildlife.  Fortunately in 2006, Governor Gregoire made Columbia River water management a top priority and the Washington legislature passed a bill that addresses some of the important long-term water management issues.  Since then, the Washington Department of Ecology set up the Columbia River Program to implement the new law and ensure that rivers, fish, and communities will get the water they need when they need it.

American Rivers serves on the Policy Advisory Group to the Columbia River Program, and is the only environmental group represented on the executive committee.  American Rivers is working to ensure that the Columbia River Program funds projects that keep more water in rivers for fish and wildlife in a way that works for the area’s farms and communities.  We’ve helped ensure that the program is focused more on 21st century water conservation solutions, rather than the often outdated approach of building new dams.

While the Columbia River Program allows for the examination of new water supply dams, the program requires a careful assessment of future supply and demand.  Options such as water conservation and efficiency, water banking, and groundwater recharge often prove less expensive, more effective, more environmentally friendly, and simply more practical than new dams. With adequate oversight and public input, the Columbia River Program will ensure increased investment in 21st century solutions to meet water demand while improving river flows for salmon and steelhead.  In fact, numerous on-farm water efficiency projects have already been funded by the Columbia River Program, resulting in improved flows in Columbia River tributaries.

State of the Columbia River

The Columbia River is by far the largest river in the western United States, and the Columbia River Basin encompasses 250,000 miles, an area the size of France.  The Snake River, the Columbia’s largest tributary, is itself the 10th largest river in the United States.

Historically, the Columbia River and its tributaries made up the largest salmon producing river system in the world, with annual returns peaking at as many as 30 million fish.  The river and its tributaries also have long been a centerpiece of eastern Washington’s economy and quality of life.  The Columbia River Basin contains over 6 million acres of irrigated agriculture, along with cites and towns that depend on the Columbia River for water.

Today, the ecological health of the Columbia and lower Snake rivers has been compromised, and thirteen stocks of salmon and steelhead that return to the Columbia, Snake, or their tributaries are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Dams and water withdrawals are two of the largest harmful impacts.  Federal flow and water temperature targets for the Columbia and lower Snake rivers, which were established to protect migrating salmon and steelhead during the spring and summer, are often missed, and demand on the available water supply will likely increase with population growth and the warmer temperatures caused by regional climate change, which reduce the mountain snowpack that is vital to the river flows in the Columbia-Snake Basin.