Kris Cisek
Mr. Hueber
Earth Science
18 November 2015
Columbia Dams The fundamental key to understanding the Columbia River dams is knowing what a dam is. A dam is a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river. The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region. The river is 1,243 miles long. The north part of the river is located in the Canadian Rockies high glaciers. From there, the main body of the Columbia River extends over a thousand miles before arriving at the Pacific. Ample amount of precipitation from the hydrologic cycle provides the river with its seasonal supply of water. The Columbia River was at one time the world’s largest producing salmon ground. Today there is less than 2.5 million adult salmon produced each year by the Columbia River. This is a big change from before when the Columbia River was estimated to produce about ten to sixteen …show more content…
The construction of the dams has altered the wildlife and the environment. Right now the count of major dams in the Columbia River is 27. Every second, salmon are forced to flow down the Columbia River into the gauntlet of these major dams. Through these mainstreams, salmon are killed. The continuation of this has been leading to Salmon becoming extinct in this region. Some of the hydroelectric dams were in fact created to kill fish, so that they could process energy faster from the water without clogs in the turbines. In addition, these dams lack provision of a passage for the fish, thus trapping and eventually killing the population of Salmon in the Columbia River Basin. Since these dams were created in 1932, the dams have been flooding due to excess rainstorms. Also, these dams provide no flood control benefits. These floods have depleted the irrigation in the area, thus causing the River to expand. The environment, the wildlife, and the community are all affected by these