Lake Roosevelt
CE-QUAL-W2 Model

Located in northeastern Washington State, Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, or Lake Roosevelt for short, was formed through the impoundment of the Columbia River behind Grand Coulee Dam (RM 597). Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake has a total storage of 9.5 million acre-feet and is roughly 140 miles long. Full pool does not extend entirely to the Canadian border (RM 745). The lake has some 600 miles of shoreline and a surface area of 82,000 acres. In 1970, the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area was designated by congress.

Grand Coulee Dam is located about 90 miles west of Spokane and 250 miles east of Seattle. Grand Coulee Dam gets its name from the nearby coulee generated by the Missoula floods some 15,000 year ago. The dam became operational in 1941 and is the largest concrete structure in North America. In 1975, the additional third powerhouse became fully active. With the additional power production capacity, the dam rarely spills water, typically less than 30 days in a year.

The dam provides flood control, irrigation, hydropower production, and recreation. Irrigation withdrawal started in 1951. Water is withdraw just upstream of Grand Coulee Dam and is pumped into Banks Lake. Withdrawals provide water for roughly 550,000 acres in the Columbia Basin Project. Peak power production is over 6 million KW with annual production just less than 20 billion KWh, the greatest source of power in the northwestern United States. Sport fisheries have historically brought in 5 to 20 millions dollars annually to the region.

Portland State University is developing a water quality model of Lake Roosevelt which will include hydrodynamics, temperature, water quality, zooplankton, and salmon components. This work is funded by the Spokane Tribe of Indians, who have collected considerable water quality, plankton, and fish data for Lake Roosevelt. The model is being developed as a management tool.


Back of Grand Coulee Dam, September, 1995. Photo by Charles Hubbard.

Contact Information:

For data releases and project questions contact: For modeling questions contact:
Deanne Pavlik
Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Evaluation Program
Spokane Tribe Department of Natural Resources
deannep@spokanetribe.com
Michael McKillip
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Portland State University
mckillim@cecs.pdx.edu



Links:


Since the model development is currently in progress this website will eventually be updated with reports characterizing the model development, calibration, and any model scenarios investigated.