Upstream Storage Problems in Columbia River Power Development

N spite of the enormous hydropower potential of the Columbia River, reasonably I full utilization requires extensive upstream storage. Storage is necessary to regulate the great fluctuations in stream flow, which have ranged from a minimum of 36,000 c.f.s. (1937) to a maximum of 1,240,000 c.f.s. (1894).1 Provision for storage, however, poses a baffling problem, contrary to the general notion that reservoir sites are readily available in the mountainous West. Although the engineering and economic factors are favorable at a number of potential sites, political, aesthetic, resource, and, above all, regional conflicts have brought action on the storage phase of Columbia River power development to a halt. If the necessary storage can be obtained, the Northwest can meet its enormous electrical energy requirements from its hydropower resources

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