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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuge Dams 2008Monday, March 3, 2008STORIES NICHOLAS K. GEHANIUS / ASSOCi2te0 Press arOmve tuu r Grand Coulee Dam, in north -central Washington, is one of the huge dams built by the federal government during the dam -building binge from the 1920s to the 1960s. Now, population growth and global warming have people studying building such dams again. Huge dams in forefront again IN WEST: Big reservoirs a way to deal with drought, growth. By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS The Assocaited Press SPOKANE, Wash. -- The era of mas- sive dam construction in the West -- which tamed rivers, swallowed towns, and created irrigated agriculture, cheap hydropower and persistent environmen- tal problems — effectively ended in 1966 with the completion of Glen Canyon Dam. But a booming population and grow- ing fears about climate change have gov- ernments once again studying dams, this time to create huge reservoirs to capture more winter rain and spring snowmelt for use in dry summer months. New dams are being studied in Wash- ington state, California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and other states, even as dams are being torn down across the country over environmental concerns, in- cluding blocked salmon runs — worries that may pose big obstacles to new dams. "The West and the Northwest are in- creasing in population growth like nev- er before;" said John Redding, regional spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Rec- lamation in Boise, Idaho. "How do you quench the thirst of the hungry masses?" There are lots of ideas for increasing water supplies in the West. They include conservation, storage of water in natural underground aquifers, pipelines to carry water from the mountains, desalination plants to make drinking water from the ocean, small dams to serve local areas. Most of those ideas are much more popular than big new dams. In Washington state, Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire put together a coali- tion of business, government and envi- ronmental groups to create the Colum- bia River Management Plan, which calls for spending $200 million to study vari- ous proposals to find more water for and eastern Washington. Jay Manning, director of the Washing- ton state Department of Ecology, believes that massive new dams on the main stems of rivers are unlikely. But it is quite possible that tributaries will be dammed, and reservoirs pumped full of river water. "It is inevitable we will take steps to increase water supply," Manning said. "Storage is part of that solution." Demand for water from growing cities.. industry agriculture and struggling fish runs is already high. Increasing the pres- sure are fears that climate change will cause rain instead of snow to fall in win- ter, reducing the slow -melting snowpack that provides water in summer months. Gregoire's plan drew the support of many environmentalists by including many ideas they prefer, including conser- vation measures.