March 7, 2002
Diana Cross
(208) 378-5020
Kathryn Puckett
(509) 575-5848 ext. 205

Reclamation Announces Winter Flows for Yakima Basin

Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs in the Yakima Basin have been filling at a nearly normal rate in the 2002 season and have gained over 400,000 acre-feet of water since October 13, 2001, allowing for adequate winter flow releases to support aquatic life downstream from the dams.

Natural river flows, snowpack levels, and rainfall have all increased compared with last year. As of March 5, this year the reservoir storage is at 490,377 acre-feet. Last year, one of the driest years on record for the Yakima Basin, the reservoir system did not gain any appreciable storage all winter and held at about 335,000 acre feet until about mid-March.

Reclamation determines water releases by consulting with the System Operations Advisory Committee, a group of biologists representing the irrigation districts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Yakama Nation.

This year the minimum target flows for fish are:

· 62 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) below Cle Elum Dam

· 162 cfs below Easton Dam

· 60 cfs below Keechelus Dam

· 8 cfs below Kachess Dam

· 125 cfs below Bumping Dam

· 45 cfs below Rimrock Dam.

Spring chinook spawning flows below the dams were set relatively low during the Fall of 2001 due to drought conditions.

The Yakima Project provides irrigation water for approximately 465,000 acres of irrigable land that extends along both sides of the Yakima River in south-central Washington. Reclamation operates the dam and reservoir system to meet specific authorized project purposes such as irrigation water supply, flood control, and instream flows for fish.