Upper Columbia: Above Grand Coulee Dam

Columbia River Information

The free-flowing headwaters of the Columbia are found in the Canadian Rockies where snowmelt and spring water fill Columbia Lake near British Columbia’s border with Alberta. From the headwaters, the river flows 600 miles downstream and swells behind Grand Coulee Dam, 150 miles downstream from the US-border. Grand Coulee is the first of 14 dams in the series of hydropower projects along the Columbia River. The entire length of the river, from source to the Pacific Ocean, measures more than 1,243 miles.

Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study

In August 1999, the Colville Confederated Tribes petitioned EPA to conduct an assessment of environmental contamination in the Upper Columbia River due to concerns about risks to human health and the environment from past industrial practices.

The results of a 2001 study by EPA showed that contamination was present in sediment in the upper stretch of the river and in Lake Roosevelt, just above Grand Coulee Dam. The 2001 study findings showed that a more detailed investigation was needed to evaluate possible risks to human health and the environment.

EPA began conducting a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS) in 2004 to look at hazardous waste contamination in the Columbia River from the U.S./Canada border downstream to the Grand Coulee Dam and surrounding upland areas. In 2005, over 400 sediment samples and 200 fish composites were collected. The fish tissue work was accomplished through a joint effort with the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation, the Washington Department of Ecology, the U.S. Geological Survey and EPA. Results from this sampling are expected in fall 2006.

In June 2006 Teck Cominco, one of the largest smelters in North America located just north of the Canadian border in Trail, British Columbia, agreed to complete the RI/FS, with oversight from EPA.

Technical Briefing Sheet - Fish Tissue Sampling Approach and Rationale - January 2005 (PDF, 438KB, 5 pp.)

Map of the Upper Columbia, click to get a print quality picture in PDF format.

Map of Upper Columbia, click for a printable version. (PDF, 1.21MB)

The Transboundary Gas Group

The Transboundary Gas Group is a forum of dam operators, government scientists and resource managers from the Columbia River Basin in the U.S. and Canada. This group meets semi-annually to discuss total dissolved gas reduction strategies and problems in the Columbia River and its major tributaries.

Learn more about the Transboundary Gas Group.

Community Action for Renewed Environment (CARE)

Land in the Upper Columbia Basin in large part is a mixture of National Forest and private ownership. Much of this land is used for grazing and orchards. Although the number of farms in the areas has decreased, the size of farms have increased. Currently, at least 10 percent of farms are Hispanic-owned.

EPA Region 10 has been working to link water quality and human health to pesticide risk in Hispanic-owned orchards in an area of this region spanning three Douglas, Chelan and Okanogan counties. Studies have shown that median house dust concentrations of organophosphate insecticides (OPs) in agricultural families living in this area were seven times higher than reference homes and median pesticide metabolite concentrations in children living in these homes were five times higher than reference children.

EPA aims to increase use of irrigation management techniques, identify resource needs of Hispanic orchardists’ farms, and help Hispanic growers find financial assistance. The long term goal of this effort is to decrease pesticide concentration in homes, children and surface waters.

Grand Coulee Dam

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for the Upper Columbia

In order to meet Water Quality Standards, there are several TMDLs for the upper section of the river basin:

Total Dissolved Gas in the Mid-Columbia and Lake Roosevelt
Dissolved Oxygen and PCBs in the Spokane River
DDT PCB in the Lower Okanogan Basin
Arsenic in the Similkameen River

Learn more about TMDLs in the Columbia Basin

Upper Columbia: Above Grand Coulee Dam

Columbia River Information

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