With a significant jump in the water supply forecast from last week’s estimate at Dworshak Dam, operating and fisheries managers agreed to a temporary increase in flows from the dam this week to 12,500 cubic feet per second, which will cause total dissolved gas below the dam to rise above the current 115 percent to as much as 120 percent.

Faced with a greater certainty that the Clearwater River basin water supply forecast will be higher than average, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased outflows late this week at Dworshak Dam on the North Fork of the Clearwater River.

Snake River flows below Minidoka and Milner dams near Heyburn, Idaho were increased Tuesday (Feb. 7) to accommodate high inflows from the surrounding areas because of increased low-elevation snowmelt from recent warm temperatures and rainfall.

The difficulty of operating a dam when just half the generation is available, drain enough water from the reservoir to meet April flood control targets and still meet water quality standards for total dissolved gas is proving to be a “balance the risk” operation at Dworshak Dam on the North Fork of the Clearwater River.

Research from Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station has identified a substance in oil that's to blame for the cardiotoxicity seen in fish exposed to crude oil spills.

As a contrast to especially warm and dry conditions in 2015 throughout the Columbia River basin, 2016 started off with a “reasonable snowpack,” but a warm April melted snow at a record pace resulting in an early runoff, according to a report from the Northwest River Forecast Center.

The western-most region of the continental United States set records for low snowpack levels in 2015 and scientists, through a new study, point the finger at high temperatures, not the low precipitation characteristic of past “snow drought” years.

As a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor began disassembling generator unit-3 for overhaul at Dworshak Dam in Idaho Monday, about 291 gallons of oil spilled from the units’ guide ball bearings at 10:30 am.

A draft report produced by Washington’s Office of Columbia River forecasts the state’s water supply out to 2035. The paper evaluates and forecasts water supply for areas east of the Cascade Mountains in Washington surrounding the Columbia River Basin and downstream to Bonneville Dam.

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $19 million contract to American Hydro of York, Pennsylvania that calls for replacing and updating equipment for pump generating units 5 and 6 at the John W. Keys III Pump Generating Plant at Grand Coulee Dam.

For more than a decade farmers dependent on northeast Oregon’s Lostine River irrigation diversions agreed to maintain minimum flows of 15 cubic feet per second during critical times for the chinook salmon spawning migration. This year that number is jumping up to 18 cfs.