Publication Summary

The Washington State Legislature created the Columbia River Basin Water Management Program (Management Program) to address a variety of water resource problems in the Columbia River Basin. Those problems have limited the availability of water for agriculture and economic development and for sufficient stream flows for fish. The Lake Roosevelt Incremental Storage Releases Project (the Proposal) is one proposal under the Management Program to improve water management in the Columbia River Basin. Specifically, the purpose of the Proposal is to release additional water from Lake Roosevelt to improve municipal and industrial water supply, provide water to replace some ground water use in the Odessa Subarea, enhance stream flows in the Columbia River to benefit fish, and provide water to interruptible water rights holders in drought years.