Post Falls Dam reduces flow to minimum allowed

[Desmond Milligan 0]

Aug. 12—Last week, Avista reduced the amount of water passing through the Post Falls Dam into the Spokane River in an effort to maintain water levels in Lake Coeur d'Alene.

The reduction to the lowest flow requirement of 500 cubic feet per second happens nearly every year, Avista spokesman Jared Webley said.

Per the dam license, renewed in 2009, the volume cut is required if the lake water level falls to around 3 inches below average.

Webley said the decreased water allowed through the dam will not have an impact on the electricity it generates.

Water in the Inland northwest has to be divvied up between a number of different users, said Dan McCracken, the regional administrator for Idaho's environmental quality department.

"If we didn't decrease the flows in the river downstream of Post Falls Dam, we would see a more rapid fall of water levels in Coeur d'Alene Lake," McCracken said. "Everyone suffers a little bit instead of one group takes the entire brunt of the impact of having less water in the watershed coming down the river."

Webley said the flow will remain low until the Tuesday after Labor Day, per licensing requirements.

Cannon Barnett's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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