News Release Archive

Snake River Flows Below Palisades Dam to be Reduced in Response to Persistent Dry Weather

Media Contact: John Rredding, (208) 378-5212, jredding@pn.usbr.gov
Mike Beus, mbeus@pn.usbr.gov

For Release: January 19, 2007

The Bureau of Reclamation plans to reduce flows on the Snake River below Palisades Dam by 100 cubic feet per second each evening until a flow of 1200 cfs is reached on January 24. Flows have been at about 1800 cfs since November.

Water stored in Palisades Reservoir is the highest observed on this date since 2000. The dam is about 55 miles southeast of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

"The initial winter flow of 1800 cfs would result in a reasonable expectation of refill, given a spring inflow that is exceeded in two out of three years," according to Mike Beus, Reclamation hydraulic engineer.

Inflow forecasts are expected to drop below the range previously assumed by February 1, because of dry weather conditions forecast for the remainder of January. The reduced flows are expected to have moderate impacts due to a return of seasonal temperatures.

"This operational change is timed to coincide with a return to temperatures near seasonal normal after recent severe cold," Beus said.

Palisades Dam, constructed in 1957, is a multipurpose project operated to achieve the benefits of flood control, irrigation storage, generation of hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife, and recreation.

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