Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the state of Washington, USA, built to generate hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Built between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee initially only had two powerhouses. The third power plant, completed in 1974 to boost energy production, makes Grand Coulee the largest power plant in the United States with an installed capacity of 6,809 MW. However, in terms of annual electricity production, Grand Coulee placed fifth after a number of nuclear facilities to the south, such as Palo Verde in western Phoenix. This is because river flow varies throughout the year. For example, while dams can produce on nameplate capacity in the spring, falling river flows in the fall mean less power can be generated the rest of the year, resulting in lower capacity factors.
The proposal to build the dam was the focus of a heated debate during the 1920s between the two groups. One group wants to irrigate the ancient Grand Coulee with a gravity canal while others pursue high dams and pumping schemes. The dam supporters won in 1933, but for initial design fiscal reasons it was for the "low" 290 feet (88 m) dam that would produce electricity without support irrigation. That year, the US Reclamation Bureau and the US consortium of three companies called MWAK (Mason-Walsh-Atkinson Kier Company) began construction. After visiting the construction site in August 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt supported the "high dam" design which, at a height of 550 m (168 m), would provide enough electricity to pump water into the Columbia basin for irrigation. Congress approved the high dam in 1935 and completed in 1942. The first water was on the Grand Coulee spillway on 1 June that year.
Electricity from dams triggered a thriving industry in the Northwest United States during World War II. Between 1967 and 1974, a third powerplant was built. The decision to build additional facilities was influenced by the ever-increasing energy demand, regulated river flow established in the Columbia River Agreement with Canada, and competition with the Soviet Union. Through a series of upgrades and installation of pump-generators, the dam now supplies four power plants with an installed capacity of 6,809 MW. As the center-part of the Columbia Valley Project, the dam reservoir supplies water for irrigation area of ​​671,000 hectares (2,700 km 2 ).
This reservoir is called Franklin Delano Roosevelt Lake, named after the President of the United States who leads the authorization and completion of the dam. Creation of reservoirs forced displacement of more than 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. While the dam does not contain fish lanes, it is also the next downstream dam, Chief Joseph Dam. This means no salmon reaches the Grand Coulee Dam. The second large dam dam, Rocky Reach Dam, has a complicated system of fish ladders to accommodate salmon spawning and annual migration.
Video Grand Coulee Dam
​​Latar Belakang Edit
Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the Columbian Highlands made during the Epoch Pococcus (Calabrian) by glaciers and retreating floods. Initially, geologists believe the glaciers that diverted the Columbia River formed the Grand Coulee, but it was revealed in the mid-20th century late that the massive flooding of Missoula Lake sculpted most of the ravine. The earliest known proposal to irrigate Grand Coulee with the Columbia River dated 1892, when Coulee City News and The Spokesman Review reported on a scheme by a man named Laughlin McLean to build 1,000 dams foot (305 m) across the Columbia River, high enough that the water will return to Grand Coulee. A dam of that size will have its reservoirs entering Canada, which will breach the agreement. As soon as the Reclamation Bureau was established, he investigated a scheme for pumping water from the Columbia River to irrigate central parts of Washington. Efforts to raise funds for irrigation failed in 1914, when Washington voters rejected the size of the bonds.
In 1917, William M. Clapp, a lawyer from Ephrata, Washington, proposed that Columbia be dammed immediately under Grand Coulee. He suggested concrete dams could flood the plateau, just like nature blocked with ice centuries ago. Clapp joins James O'Sullivan, another lawyer, and by Rufus Woods, publisher of The Wenatchee World newspaper at the nearby farming center of Wenatchee. Together, they are known as "Dam College". Woods began promoting Grand Coulee Dam in his newspaper, often with articles written by O'Sullivan.
The idea of ​​the dam was increasingly popular in the public in 1918. Reclamation supporters in Central Washington split into two camps. The "Pumpers" like a dam with a pump to lift water from the river to Grand Coulee from which canals and pipes can irrigate agricultural land. The "lumberjack" loves draining water from the Pend Oreille River in northeastern Washington through a gravity canal to irrigate agricultural land in Central and East Washington. Many locals like Woods, O'Sullivan, and Clapp are pumpers, while many influential businessmen in Spokane associated with Washington Water and Power Company (WWPC) are persistent advocates. The pump believes that hydroelectric power from dams can cover costs and claim the pullers are trying to maintain a monopoly over power.
The crashers took several steps to ensure support for their proposal. In 1921, WWPC obtained an initial permit to build a dam at Kettle Falls, about 110 mi (177 km) upstream from Grand Coulee. If built, the Kettle Water Dam will be in the path of the Grand Coulee Dam reservoir, essentially blocking its construction. WWPC planted a rumor in the newspaper, stating that exploration drilling on the Grand Coulee site did not find granite where the dam foundation could rest, only clay and rocks were fragmented. This was later denied by reclamation drilling. The ditcher hired General George W. Goethals, the Panama Canal engineer, to prepare the report. Goethals visit the country and produce reports that support the fraudsters. The Reclamation Bureau was not impressed by the Goethals report, believing it was fraught with errors. In July 1923 , President Warren G. Harding visited the state of Washington and declared support for irrigation work there, but died a month later. His successor, Calvin Coolidge, has little interest in irrigation projects. The Reclamation Bureau, which wants a major project that will enhance its reputation, focuses on the Boulder Canyon Project that produces the Hoover Dam. Reclamation was authorized to undertake research in 1923, but project costs made federal officials reluctant. Washington's state proposal received little support from people in the east, who feared irrigation would generate more crops, pushing prices. With President Coolidge opposing the project, the bill to the appropriate money for the Grand Coulee site survey failed.
In 1925, Congress passed the study of the US Army Engineer Corps on the Columbia River. This study is included in the Rivers and Harbors Act of March 1925, provided for the study of navigation, power, flood control and the potential of river irrigation. In April 1926 , the Army Corps responded with the first of the "308 Reports" named after the 1925 House Document. 308 (69th Congress, 1st Session). With the help of Washington Senators, Wesley Jones and Clarence Dill, Congress ordered $ 600,000 in further studies to be conducted by the Army Corps and Federal Power Commission in the Columbia River Basin and the Snake River. US Army Major John Butler was responsible for the Columbia River and the Upper Snake River and in 1932, his 1,000-page report was submitted to Congress. It recommends Grand Coulee Dam and nine others on the river, including some in Canada. The report says sales of electricity from Grand Coulee Dam could pay for construction costs. Reclamation - whose interest in the dam was revitalized by the report - endorsed it.
Although there is support for the Grand Coulee Dam, others argue that there is little need for more electricity in the Northwest and surplus crops. The Army Corps does not believe the construction should be a federal project and see the low demand for electricity. Reclamation states that energy demand will increase by the time the dam is completed. Reclamation Chief Elwood Mead says he wants the dam to be built no matter what the cost. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took office in March 1933, supported the dam because of the potential irrigation and power it would provide, but he was uncomfortable with the price tag $ 450 million . For this reason, it supports low dam 290Ã, ft (88Ã, m), not high dam 550Ã, ft (168 m). He provided $ 63 million in federal funding, while Washington State provided $ 377,000. In 1933, Washington's governor, Clarence Martin formed the Columbia Basin Commission to oversee the dam project, and the Reclamation was chosen to oversee the construction. Maps Grand Coulee Dam
Construction Edit
Low Dam Edit
On July 16, 1933, a crowd of 3,000 people watched the driving of the first pole at the site of a low dam, and the excavation began immediately. The core drilling began in September while the Reclamation Bureau accelerated the study and design of the dam. It will still help control the flood and provide irrigation and hydroelectrics, even at reduced capacity. Most importantly, it will not raise its reservoir high enough to irrigate the plateau around Grand Coulee. However, dam design is provided for future improvements and upgrades.
Before and during construction, workers and engineers encountered problems. Contracts for companies to build different parts of the dam are hard to get because some companies are big enough to fill them. This forces the company to consolidate. In addition, the original American graves had to be relocated and temporary fish ladders to be built. During construction, additional problems include landslides and the need to protect newly poured concrete from freezing. Construction on the Grand Coulee Bridge downstream started in May 1934 and a larger earth movement began in August. Excavations for a dam foundation require the removal of 22,000,000 cuÃ, yd (17,000,000 m 3 ) of dirt and stones. To reduce the number of trucks required in excavation, the conveyor belt is almost 2 million (3.2 km) long built. To further secure the foundation, workers drilled holes 660-880 ft (200-270 m) into the granite and filled the gap with grout, creating curtain grout. Sometimes, the excavated areas fall from excess soil layers. To secure this area from further movement and continue the excavation, a 3 inch (76 mm) diameter pipe is inserted into the mass and cooled with cold liquid from the cooling plant. It freezes the earth and secures it so construction can continue.
The final contract offer for the dam starts June 18 , 1934, in Spokane, and four bids are filed. One offer comes from a lawyer without financial support; the other comes from a Mae West actress who is nothing more than a poem and a promise to divert the river. Of the two serious offers, the lowest bid comes from a consortium of three companies: Silas Mason Co. from Louisville, Kentucky, Walsh Construction Co. from Davenport, Iowa and New York and Atkinson-Kier Company from San Francisco and San Diego. The consortium is known as MWAK and their bid is $ 29,339,301, almost 15% lower than the $ 34.5 million option proposed by the next bidder, Six Companies, Inc., Hoover Dam at the time. Cofferdams Edit
Two large cofferdams were built for the dam, but they were parallel to the river rather than straddling the width, so drilling into the canyon walls was not necessary. By the end of 1935 about 1,200 workers completed western and eastern cofferdams. West Cofferdam has a length of 2,000 ft (610 m), thick 50 ft (15 m) and was built 110 m (34 m) above the bedrock. Cofferdams allow workers to dry the riverbeds and start building dams, while the water continues to flow in the middle of the river bed. In August 1936 , after the western foundation was completed, part of west cofferdam dismantled, allowing water to flow through the new foundation part of the dam. In February 1936 , MWAK has begun to build cofferdams above and below the channel between eastern and west cofferdams. In December, the entire Columbia River was diverted to a foundation built within eastern and west cofferdams. On December 15 , 1936, Wenatchee Daily World announced the river was diverted and at the beginning of the following year, people came in large numbers to see the riverbed.
Design changes Edit
On August 4, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited the construction site and was impressed by the project and its purpose. He speaks to the workers and the audience, closing with this statement: "I am going here today with the feeling that this work is well done; that we will move forward with a fruitful project, and we will see it for the benefit of our country." after which, Reclamation is permitted to proceed with a high dam plan but faces the issue of design switching and contract negotiations being amended with MWAK. In June 1935 , for additional $ 7 million , MWAK and Six Companies, Inc. agree to join together as Consolidated Builders Inc. and build high dams. Six Companies have just completed the Hoover Dam and are nearing completion from Dam Parker. The new design, selected and approved by the Reclamation office in Denver, includes several improvements, one of which is an irrigation pumping plant.
Roosevelt imagined the dam would enter into the New Testament under the Public Works Administration; it will create jobs, farming opportunities and will pay for itself. In addition, as part of a larger public effort, Roosevelt wants to keep electricity prices low by limiting private ownership of utility companies, which can charge high prices for energy. Many oppose the project's takeover by the federal government, including its most prominent supporters, but the State of Washington does not have the resources to fully realize the project. In August 1935 , with the help of Roosevelt and the Supreme Court decision allowing the acquisition of public lands and Indian Reserves, Congress approved funding for the enhanced high dam under the River and Port Laws of 1935. The most legislative obstacles significant for the dam has ended.
That for the purpose of controlling floods, improving navigation, regulating the flow of rivers in the United States, providing storage and for storage of stored water, for reclaiming public lands and Indian reservations, and other useful uses, and for the generation of electrical energy as a financial aid and assisting projects -the project as it is known as the "Parker Dam" on the Colorado River and the "Grand Coulee Dam" on the Columbia River is hereby authorized and adopted.
- 1935 Rivers and Harbors Act SEC 2, August 30 , 1935, [H.R. 6250] [Public, No. 409]
Pour and finish first concrete Edit
On 6 December 1935, Governor Clarence Martin presided over the first pouring ceremony. During construction, bulk concrete is delivered in place by a train-car where it is further processed by eight large mixers before being placed in shape. The concrete is poured into a 50 sq. Ft (4.6 m 2 ) column by a raised bucket, each supporting eight tons of concrete. To cool the concrete and facilitate the drainage, approximately 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of piping is placed along the mass of the hardening. Cold water from the river is pumped into the pipe, reducing the temperature in the form of 105 Â ° F (41 Â ° C) to 45 Â ° F (7 Â ° C). This causes the dam to contract about eight inches in length; the resulting gap is filled with grout.
Until the project begins, a stretch of the Columbia River where the dam will be built has not been touched, making it difficult to move humans and materials. In January 1936 , the Grand Coulee Bridge (permanent highway bridge) opened after a large delay caused by high water; three additional and temporary bridges downstream have moved vehicles and workers along with sand and gravel for mixing cement. In March 1938 , MWAK completed the lower dam and Consolidated Builders Inc. start building high dams. The house of western powers was completed in December 1939 and about 5,500 workers were on site that year. Between 1940 and 1941, 11 dam's flood gates were installed in the sewer and the first dam generator began operating in January 1941 . The reservoir is full and the first water flows over the dam spillway on June 1, 1942, while work is officially completed on January 31, 1943. The last of the original 18 generators is not operating until 1950.
Reservoir clean Edit
In 1933, the Reclamation initiated efforts to purchase land behind the dam as far as 151 million (243 km) in the upstream for the reservoir zone in the future. The reservoir, later known as Roosevelt Lake, flooded 70,500 hectares (285Ã, km 2 ) and the Reclamation gained an additional 11,500 acres (47Ã, km 2 ) around the coastline in front. Inside the zone were eleven cities, two railroads, three state highways, about a hundred and fifty miles of rural roads, four sawmills, fourteen bridges, four telegraphs and telephone systems, and lots of power lines and funerals. All facilities must be purchased or moved, and 3,000 residents are relocated. The Anti-Speculation Act was passed in 1937, limiting the number of farmers the land could own to prevent price increases. The government assesses the land and offers to buy it from affected people. Many refused to accept the offer, and the Reclamation filed a lawsuit. Members of the Confederate Colville tribe and Spokane who had settlements within the reservoir zone were also relocated. The acquisition of Indian Lands for the Grand Coulee Dam Act of June 29, 1940, allows the Interior Secretary to acquire land in Colville and Spokane Reserves, eventually accounting for 21,100 hectares (85 km 2 ). By 1942, all the land had been bought at market value: a cost of $ 10.5 million span including agriculture, bridge, road and railway relocation. Replacement of relocation is not offered to property owners, which is common until US law is amended in 1958.
At the end of 1938, the Job Progress Administration began cleaning up what would be 54,000 acres (220Ã, km 2 ) trees and other plants. The piece of wood floats downstream and is sold to the highest bidder, Lincoln Lumber Company, which pays $ 2.25 per thousand foot board. The pace of clearance was accelerated in April 1941 when it was declared a national defense project, and the last tree was felled on July 19, 1941. Logging was done with Reclamation Overseeing Engineers Frank A. Banks and WPA Administrators State of Carl W. Smith during the ceremony. 2,626 people living in five major camps along Columbia worked on the project. When it's done, $ 4.9 million has been spent in labor. Infrastructure support and support Edit
Workers build dams receive an average of 80 Ã, Â ¢ per hour; payroll list for the dam is one of the largest in the country. Workers were mostly drawn from the districts of Grant, Lincoln, Douglas, and Okanogan and women were allowed to work only in dormitories and cooking houses. About 8,000 people worked on the project, and Frank A. Banks served as chief construction engineer. Bert A. Hall is the chief inspector who will receive dams from contractors. Orin G. Patch serves as a concrete head. Construction conditions are dangerous and 77 workers die.
To prepare for construction, housing for workers is needed along with four bridges downstream of the dam, one of which, the Grand Coulee Bridge, is present today. The Reclamation Bureau provides housing and places their administrative buildings in the City of Engineer, located just downstream of the construction site on the west side of the river. Across the City of Engineers, MWAK built Mason City in 1934. The city of Mason contains hospitals, post offices, electricity, and other facilities along with a population of 3,000. The three-bedroom house in town was rented for $ 32 a month. Of the two living areas, City Engineer is considered to have better housing. Several other residences are formed around the construction site in an area known as Shack City, which lacks reliable electrical access and facilities similar to other cities. Founded in 1935, the city of Grand Coulee also supports the workers and is in the west of the dam on the plateau. MWAK eventually sold Mason City to Reclamation in 1937 before his contract was completed. In 1956, the Reclamation merged the City of Mason and City Engineers to form the city of Coulee Dam. It was entered as a city in February 1959 .
Irrigation pump Edit
With the onset of World War II, power plants were given priority over irrigation. In 1943, Congress passed the Columbia Basin Project and the Reclamation Bureau began construction of an irrigation facility in 1948. Right to the west and above the Grand Coulee Dam, the North Dam was built. This dam, along with the Dry Water Dam to the south, was closed and created Banks Lake, which covers 27 km north (Grand Coulee). Additional dams, such as Pinto Dam and O'Sullivan, built with chiffon and canals, create an extensive irrigation supply network called the Columbia Basin Project. Irrigation began between 1951 and 1953 when six of the 12 pumps were installed and Banks Lake was filled.
Expansion Edit
Third Powerplant Edit
After World War II, the growing demand for electricity sparked interest in building another power plant powered by the Grand Coulee Dam. One obstacle to additional power generation is the large seasonal flow from the Columbia River. Today the stream is tightly managed - hardly any season. Historically, about 75% of the annual stream flow occurred between April and September. During the low flow period, the river flow is between 50,000 cuÃ, ft/s (1,400m 3 /s) and 80,000 cuÃ,ft/s (2,300m 3 /s) while the maximum spring runoff flow is about 500,000 cuÃ, ft/s (14,000 m 3 /s). Only nine out of eighteen dam generators can operate throughout the year. The remaining nine are operated less than six months of the year. In 1952, Congress authorized $ 125,000 for the Reclamation to conduct a feasibility study on the Third Powerplant which was completed in 1953 and recommended two locations. Nine identical 108-MW generators are recommended, but because of the things that exist, they can only operate in high water periods.
Further regulation of the Columbia flow is necessary to make new power plants feasible. This will require water retention and regulatory projects in Canada and agreements to resolve many of the economic and political issues involved. The Reclamation Bureau and the Army Corps of Engineers explored alternatives that would not rely on an agreement with Canada, such as raising the level of Lake Flathead or Lake Pend Oreille, but both proposals faced strong local opposition. The Columbia River Agreement, which has been discussed between the US and Canada since 1944, is seen as the answer. The effort to build the Third Powerplant is also influenced by competition with the Soviet Union, which has built a power plant on the Volga River that is bigger than Grand Coulee. On September 16, 1964, the Columbia River Agreement was ratified and included an agreement by Canada to build Duncan, Keenleyside, Mica Dam upstream and the US will build the Libby Dam in Montana. Shortly thereafter, Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson, who was influential in building a new power plant, announced the Reclamation will present the project to Congress for allocation and funding. To compete with the Soviet rivalry and to increase generator capacity, it was determined that the generator could be upgraded to a much larger design. With the possibility of international companies bidding on the project, the Soviets who have just installed a 500 MW hydroelectric generator on the Yenisei River show their interest. To avoid the possibility of embarrassing international rivals who build domestic power plants, the Ministry of Internal Affairs rejected international offerings. The Third Powerplant was approved and President Lyndon Johnson signed the appropriation bill on June 14 , 1966.
Between 1967 and 1974, the dam was expanded to add the Third Powerplant, to architectural design by Marcel Breuer. Beginning in July 1967 , this involves destroying the northeast side of the dam and building the front-bay. Excavation of 22,000,000 cuÃ, yd (16,820,207 m 3 ) of soil and stone was completed before a new dam section along the 1725 m (526 m) was constructed. This addition makes the original dam of 4,300 feet (1,300 m) nearly a mile in length. The original design for locomotives has twelve smaller units but is modified to include six of the largest generators available. To supply them with water, six 40 foot (12 m) retaining pegs are installed. Of the new turbines and generators, three 600 MW units were built by Westinghouse and three 700 MW units by General Electric. The first new generator was commissioned in 1975 and the last in 1980. Three 700 MW units were later upgraded to 805 MW by Siemens.
Pumping plants Edit
After a power shortage in the Northwest during the 1960s, determined six planned pumps remained to be pump-generators. When the demand for energy is high, the pump generator can generate electricity with water from the Banks Lake feeder channel adjacent to the dam at higher altitudes. In 1973, the Pump Factory was completed and the first two generators (P/G-7 and P/G-8) operated. In 1983, two more generators went online, and in January 1984 the last two were in operation. The six-pump generator adds 314 MW to the dam capacity. In May 2009 , the Pump Factory was officially renamed the John W. Keys Power Plant after John W. Keys, III, commissioner of the US Reclamation Bureau from 2001 to 2006.
Overhaul Edit
The major overhaul of the Third Powerplant, which contains a generator numbered G19 through G24, begins in March 2008 and will continue for many years. Among the projects that will be completed before the generator itself can begin to be overhauled including replacing the 500-kV underground oil-filled cables for G19, G20 and G21 generators with overhead transmission lines (beginning in February 2009 ), new 236 MW transformers for G19 and G20 (starting on November 2006 ), and some other projects. Planning, design, procurement and site preparation for G22 805, G23 and G24 generator improvements are scheduled to begin in 2011, with the reshuffle to begin in 2013 with a G22 generator, then G23 starting 2014, and finally G24 starting in 2016 , with completion planned in 2014, 2016 and 2017, respectively. Power plants for G19, G20 and G21 have not been scheduled for 2010.
Operations and benefits Edit
The main objective of the dam, irrigation, was postponed because the need for electricity in wartime increased. The dam power plant started production around the time the WWII began, and its electricity was critical to the war effort. The dam strengthens aluminum smelters at Longview and Vancouver, Washington, Boeing plants in Seattle and Vancouver, as well as the Portland shipyard. In 1943, the electricity was also used for plutonium production in Richland, Washington, on the Hanford Site, which is part of the secret Manhattan Project. The demand for power on the project was so great that in 1943 two generators originally intended for the Shasta Dam were installed in Grand Coulee to speed up the generator installation schedule.
Irrigation Edit
Water is pumped through a 12-foot (3.7 m) pipe-diameter Pump-Generator (280 m) from Roosevelt Lake to a 1.6 m (2.6 km) feeder channel. From the feeder channel, water is transferred to Banks Lake which has 715,000 acre active storage? Ft (882,000,000 m 3 ). Twelve pumps with a capacity of 65,000-70,000 hp of the factory can transfer up to 1,605 cuÃ, ft/s (45 m 3 /s) to the lake. Currently, the Columbia Basin Project irrigates 670,000 acres (2,700 km 2 ) with a potential of 1.1 million . More than 60 different plants are planted in the project and distributed throughout the United States.
Power Edit
Grand Coulee Dam supports four different power plants containing 33 hydropower plants. The original Left and Right powerhouse contains 18 main generators and Left has an additional three service generators for a total installed capacity of 2,280 MW. The first generator was commissioned in 1941 and all 18 operate in 1950. The Third Powerplant contains a total of six main generators with an installed capacity of 4,215 MW. The G-19, G-20 and G-21 generators in the Third Powerplant have 600 MW installed capacity but can operate at a maximum capacity of 690 MW which brings the overall maximum capacity of the dam power facility to 7,079 MW. The Pump Plant contains six pump generators with an installed capacity of 314 MW. When pumping water into Lake Banks they consume 600 MW of electricity. Each generator is provided with water by individual penstock. The largest of these feed the Third Powerplant and 40 feet in diameter (12 m) and can supply up to 35,000 cuÃ, ft/s (990 m 3 /s). The dam power facilities initially had an installed capacity of 1,974 MW but expansion and upgrading had increased the generation to 6,809 MW installed, a maximum of 7,079 MW. Grand Coulee Dam produces 21 TWh of electricity every year. This means that the reservoir generates an average of 2,397 MW of electricity, resulting in a total generation efficiency of 35%. In 2014, 20.24 TWh of electricity is generated.
Spillway Edit
The Grand Coulee Dam's spillway is 1,650 feet (500 m) long and is an overflow, controlled drum-gate with a capacity of 1,000,000 cuÃ, ft/s (28,000 m 3 /s). Flood records in May and June 1948 flooded the lowlands under the dam and highlighted its limited flood-prevention capabilities at the time, as its drains and turbines reached a record flow of 637,800 cubic feet per second. (18.060 m 3 /sec). The flood damages the down river cliffs and deteriorates the face of the dam and its bucket at the base of the overflow channel. The flood prompted the Columbia River Agreement and its provisions for the upstream-built dam in Canada, which will regulate Columbia's flow.
Benefits of cost Edit
The Reclamation Bureau in 1932 estimated the cost of building Grand Coulee Dam (not including Third Powerplant) to $ 168 million; the actual cost was $ 163 million in 1943 ($ 1.86 billion in 2016 dollars). The cost to complete the power plant and improve design flaws with dams throughout the 1940s and '50s added another $ 107 million, bringing the total cost to $ 270 million ($ 1.98 billion dollars 2016), about 33% above forecasts. The Third Powerplant was estimated to cost $ 390 million in 1967, but higher construction costs and labor disputes pushed the project's final cost in 1973 to $ 730 million ($ 3.09 billion in 2016 dollars), about 55% above forecasts. Although the forecast is exceeded, the dam becomes an economic success, especially with the Third Powerplant showing a 2: 1 cost-benefit ratio. Although Reclamation only irrigates about half of the estimated land, the gross value of the crop (in constant dollars) has doubled from 1962 to 1992, largely due to differences in farming practices and crop choices. The Bureau expects money earned from supplying electricity and irrigation water will pay for construction costs in 2044.
Edit
The dam has severe negative consequences for local Native American tribes whose traditional way of life revolves around the salmon and native bushland habitat of the area. Having no fish ladder, Grand Coulee Dam permanently blocks fish migration, eliminating more than 1,100 km (1,770 km) of natural spawning habitat. By largely eliminating anadromous fish over the Okanogan River, Grand Coulee Dam also sets the stage for the next decision not to provide a fish lane at Joseph Dam's Head (built in 1953). Chinook, Steelhead, Sockeye and Coho salmon (as well as other important species including Lamprey) are now unable to spawn in the reach of the Upper Columbia Basin. The extinction of the spawning site upstream of the dam has prevented Spokane and other tribes from holding the first salmon ceremony.
Grand Coulee Dam flooded over 21,000 acres (85 km 2 ) from the main land basin where Native Americans have lived and hunted for thousands of years, forcing relocation of settlements and burials. The Office of Indian Affairs negotiates with the United States Reclamation Bureau on behalf of tribes concerned about flooding on their grave sites. Acquisition of Indian Land for Grand Coulee Dam, 54 Stat.703 Act of June 20, 1940 allows the Interior Secretary to move human bodies to a new Native American grave site. The funeral relocation project began in September 1939. Human bodies were put into small containers and many artifacts were found, but their collection methods destroyed archaeological evidence. Estimates for the number of graves relocated in 1939 included 915 graves reported by the Reclamation Reclamation Bureau, or 1,388 reported by Howard T. Ball, who oversaw field work. Tribal leaders reported 2,000 other graves in 1940, but the Reclamation Bureau would not continue a heavy relocation, and the places were soon covered by water.
The town of Inchelium, Washington, home to about 250 Colville Indians, was submerged and then moved. The Kettle Waterfall, once a Native American fishing ground, was also submerged. Average catches of more than 600,000 salmon per year have been eliminated. In one study, the Army Corps of Engineers estimated the annual loss exceeded 1 million fish. In June 1940 , the Confederate Tribe of Colville Reservation held a three-day event called "Ceremony of Tears", marking the end of a fishing trip in Kettle Falls. Within a year after the Ceremony, the waterfall was flooded. The town of Kettle Falls, Washington, relocated.
The Columbia Basin Project has affected habitat ranges for species such as donkey deer, dwarfed rabbits and dug owls, resulting in a declining population. However, it has created new habitats such as wetlands, and riparian corridors. The dam environmental impact effectively ends the traditional way of life of the indigenous population. The government finally compensated Colville Indians in the 1990s with a paralyzed settlement of approximately $ 53 million plus annual payments of around $ 15 million < span>. In 2011, the Spokane tribes are still seeking compensation, currently through the H.R. congressional bill. 3097.
To compensate for the shortage of ladders, three fisheries have been made over the dam, letting go to the upper Columbia River. Half of the fish were reserved for the moved tribes, and a quarter of the reservoirs were reserved for tribal and boating hunting.
Tourism Edit
Built in the late 1970s, the Visitor Center contains many historical photos, geological samples, turbines and dam models, and theater. The building was designed by Marcel Breuer, and resembles a generator rotor. Since May 1989 , on a hot summer's night, a laser show on Grand Coulee Dam is projected onto the dam wall. The show includes images of full-size warships and the Statue of Liberty, as well as some environmental comments. The tour of the Third Powerplant is public and takes about an hour. Visitors use the space shuttle to see the generator and also travel across the main dam (if not closed to the public) because the previously used glass lift can not be used.
Woody Guthrie Connection Edit
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