(Lewiston, ID)  An environmental group says new research shows that the Lower Snake River dams “waste a tremendous amount of water through evaporation.”
Citing a Stockholm Environment Institute report, Columbia Riverkeeper says the Lower Snake River dams waste roughly 30,400 acre feet of water every year. “This water evaporates off the surface of the four expansive Lower Snake reservoirs in Eastern Washington, and water waste will likely increase with climate change,” says the organization.
Columbia Riverkeeper, and other groups, have been advocating for the removal of the dams to aid in the recovery of endangered species like salmon.
Using the Water Evaluation And Planning and data from the Army Corps of Engineers, the study calculated the amount of water that evaporates from the existing Lower Snake River reservoirs and subtracted the amount of water expected to evaporate from a free-flowing Lower Snake River.
According to the organization, the water lost to evaporation because of the Lower Snake River dams each year could meet the residential needs of over 240,000 Washingtonians or grow over 8,000 acres of Washington apples.