Publication Summary

Competition for water from the Columbia River mainstem continues to grow. There are a large number of pending applications in Washington for new water rights from the river and the human population relying upon the river to support both personal and economic uses of water is also growing. At the same time, several salmon species have been listed as endangered and threatened. As a result, decisions related to out-of-stream water use has been controversial: caught between the need to consider environmental impacts, especially the impacts on salmon populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, and human demands for water.