Corps Proposes Another Dworshak Drawdown

Orofino Chamber of Commerce members are confronted with the economic depression of yet another summer drawdown of Dworshak Reservoir, this time to seal cracks below the dam.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials Wednesday laid out their plans for dropping Dworshak by 100 feet by mid-September to grout cracks in the bedrock beneath the Clearwater River dam.

Once the reservoir drops 20 to 30 feet, the recreation season is essentially over because boaters are cut off from the water, chamber member Keith Hanson said.

“To be honest, this will hit us harder than the National Marine Fisheries Service did this summer,” he said. The agency has drawn down the reservoir 80 feet by Sept. 1 for the last several years to help flush salmon and steelhead toward the ocean.

Last year, Gov. Phil Batt brokered a deal that kept the reservoir within 20 feet of full through early August, extending the recreation season.

There is no doubt next summer’s plan will hit Orofino hard, admitted Lt. Col. Donald Curtis, the corps’ Walla Walla District commander.

But it should be done soon. Otherwise, the corps might have to drop the level in some future summer when a drawdown to help fish would not otherwise be needed, he said.

The number of sand particles flowing through the cracks has doubled since 1989. They erode the cracks, increasing the flow, district dam safety officer Everett Wright said.

Wright said he believes the level should start falling right after the July 4th holiday.

By Aug. 15, he would like to see it down 70 feet so the contractor can begin injecting grout.