Dry Falls Dam

Dry Falls Dam
Location Grant County, Washington, USA
Coordinates 47°37′12″N 119°18′27″W / 47.62000°N 119.30750°WCoordinates: 47°37′12″N 119°18′27″W / 47.62000°N 119.30750°W[1]
Opening date 1949[2]
Operator(s) United States Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Impounds Grand Coulee
Height 123 feet (37 m)[3]
Length 9,800 feet (2,990 m)[3]
Width (base) 480 feet (150 m)[3]
Reservoir
Creates Banks Lake
Total capacity 1,275,000 acre feet (1.573 km3)[4]
Catchment area 278.3 square miles (721 km2)[4]
Surface area 27,000 acres (109 km2)

Dry Falls Dam is a rockfaced earthfill-type[5] dam in the U.S. state of Washington. Located in Grant County near Coulee City, it was built as part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project. Water from the Columbia River, impounded by Grand Coulee Dam, is pumped into Grand Coulee, a formerly dry canyon, via the short Feeder Canal. Grand Coulee's north end is sealed by North Dam and Dry Falls Dam stretches across the midsection of the Coulee. This allows the water pumped from the Columbia River to fill the upper Grand Coulee, creating a large equalizing reservoir known as Banks Lake. Water from the reservoir is fed into the irrigation project's Main Canal, which runs south from Dry Falls Dam to another reservoir called Billy Clapp Lake, formed by Pinto Dam.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Dry Falls Dam
  2. ↑ United States Bureau of Reclamation (2012-05-17). "Dry Falls Dam: General". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Story of the Columbia Basin Project. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 59.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 United States Bureau of Reclamation (2012-05-17). "Dry Falls Dam: Hydraulics and Hydrology". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
  5. ↑ Columbia Basin Project, Bureau of Reclamation

External links