Before the Columbia River flood control system, spring blooms often coincided with large, muddy floods inundating communities and farms. While the Midwest, from Minnesota to Louisiana, still faces threats from swollen rivers due to heavy rain and rapid snowmelt, the Columbia River drainage does not.

Our abatement efforts started with the completion of Grand Coulee Dam in 1942.

Although flood control was its primary purpose, the Grand Coulee Dam also provides water to the Columbia Basin Project, irrigating 670,000 acres of farmland. Additionally, it generates electricity that supplies 35% of the total power in the Pacific Northwest.

Grand Coulee’s stored water will be important to offset the water shortages which Washington’s Department of Ecology projects this year. DOE extended its drought advisory for the third straight year for Central Washington.

Fortunately, in 1964, we signed a treaty with Canada to capture floodwaters generated from the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia. It is an example of the importance of cooperative work highlighted by historic friendly relations between our two countries. The Columbia River Treaty, ratified in 1964, was renegotiated in 2024.

The agreement originally resulted in the construction of three dams in B.C. (the Duncan, Hugh L. Keenleyside, and Mica dams) and Libby Dam in northwest Montana, resulting in Koocanusa Reservoir, which crosses the Canada-U.S. border.

BC Hydro states that the Canadian portion of the basin is mountainous and receives substantial snowfall, contributing 30 to 35% of the combined runoff for Canada and the United States. Currently, the flood control benefits of dams are frequently overlooked. It is history we should not ignore.

On May 30, 1948, a levee on the flood-swollen Columbia River ruptured, causing significant flooding that resulted in extensive damage to Vanport, now part of North Portland. Sixteen people died and Vanport – at the time, Oregon’s second largest city – disappeared forever.

President Harry Truman flew west to see the water-logged mess. Truman claimed in Portland that dams on the Columbia, Snake, and Willamette rivers could have prevented flooding. He scolded Congress and told them to get off the dime and fund the Bureau of Reclamation to complete its flood control projects.

Over the next 20 years, the McNary, Dalles and John Day dams were completed on the lower Columbia and Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams were completed on the lower Snake, adding some additional control capacity, generating much-needed hydropower, providing irrigation water for 60,000 acres of farmland, and establishing a 465-mile water transportation network from the Pacific Ocean to Clarkston.

Even with our flood control dams today, the lower Columbia River reaches near flood stage in the spring, triggering longer traffic delays on the I-5 bridge between Vancouver and Portland because boats that normally pass under the bridge require the draw span to open.

Despite varying trade policies and tariffs, the Pacific Northwest remains interdependent. Washington is a border state with an economy intricately linked to British Columbia. Trade barriers have significant impacts on our economic interactions; however, we have worked through our differences.

According to recent data from the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, Canada is Washington state’s largest partner for imports. Canada is also the state’s second-largest export market, behind China.

In 2023, Washington’s top three imports from British Columbia were oil and gas ($3.3 billion), lumber ($653 million) and electrical power generation ($317 million). In the other direction, Washington’s top three exports to B.C. were electrical power ($974 million), refined petroleum ($638 million) and seafood products ($247 million).

Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer, and columnist. He retired as president of the Association of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and largest business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. You may reach him at theBrunells@msn.com.