Dry Falls Dam

Dry Falls Dam
Location	Grant County, Washington, USA
Coordinates	47°37′12″N 119°18′27″W / 47.62000°N 119.30750°WCoordinates: 47°37′12″N 119°18′27″W / 47.62000°N 119.30750°W
Opening date	1949[1]
Operator(s)	United States Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Grand Coulee
Height	123 feet (37 m)[2]
Length	9,800 feet (2,990 m)[2]
Width (base)	480 feet (150 m)[2]
Reservoir
Creates	Banks Lake
Total capacity	1,275,000 acre feet (1.573 km^3)[3]
Catchment area	278.3 square miles (721 km^2)[3]
Surface area	27,000 acres (109 km^2)

Dry Falls Dam is a rockfaced earthfill-type^[4] dam in the U.S. state of Washington. Located in Grant County near Coulee City, it was built as part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project. Water from the Columbia River, impounded by Grand Coulee Dam, is pumped into Grand Coulee, a formerly dry canyon, via the short Feeder Canal. Grand Coulee's north end is sealed by North Dam and Dry Falls Dam stretches across the midsection of the Coulee. This allows the water pumped from the Columbia River to fill the upper Grand Coulee, creating a large equalizing reservoir known as Banks Lake. Water from the reservoir is fed into the irrigation project's Main Canal, which runs south from Dry Falls Dam to another reservoir called Billy Clapp Lake, formed by Pinto Dam.

References

1. United States Bureau of Reclamation (2012-05-17). "Dry Falls Dam: General". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
2. The Story of the Columbia Basin Project. Washington D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1964. p. 59.
3. United States Bureau of Reclamation (2012-05-17). "Dry Falls Dam: Hydraulics and Hydrology". Retrieved 2015-01-23.
4. Columbia Basin Project, Bureau of Reclamation

External links

• Dry Falls Dam, Bureau of Reclamation