13 January 2000
WCD Releases Report on Grand Coulee Dam
Convenes in Portland to release study

Portland, OR - The independent World Commission on Dams (WCD) today presented findings from its exhaustive study of the Grand Coulee Dam and related aspects of the Columbia River system at a conference in Portland, Oregon.

The World Commission on Dams is a South African-based organization created to provide the world with the first global, independent analysis of the benefits and costs of large dams in terms of their economic, social, and environmental impacts.

"This report is a unique, independent and objective evaluation of all aspects of a major dam project that changed lives forever in the Pacific Northwest, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse," said Jamie Skinner, a senior technical advisor with the World Commission on Dams. "Public discussion of this study is highly pertinent to the Pacific Northwest, given the current debate in the region over conflicting views as to the value and future of dams."

The Grand Coulee study has been conducted with full participation of key American and Canadian stakeholders concerned with this internationally famous dam and the Columbia River basin system Basin Project, including farming/irrigation interests, Native groups, hydroelectricity utilities, environmental groups, and governments, and utilities. The US Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Grand Coulee Dam, greatly assisted WCD in carrying out the case study.

The study of the Grand Coulee Dam includes an in-depth evaluation of:

• the degree to which the original development goals of the dam project were met, missed, or surpassed


• the myriad costs of the Grand Coulee Dam project to Native American and Native Canadian communities, taxpayers, electricity ratepayers, and the environment


• the myriad benefits of the dam to the Pacific Northwest economy, in particular the agricultural, airplane and aluminum industries


• the authorities' growing awareness of the need to balance varied and sometimes conflicting needs for water between different interests within the river basin

The Grand Coulee is one of eight WCD case studies of important large dams around the world. The studies have been undertaken to elicit 'lessons learned' from those dams; the Commission is not a judicial body and will make no judgment on any dam it is studying. The WCD's global analysis of the development effectiveness of dams will form the basis of the Commission's recommendations on dams and their alternatives, to be published in November 2000.

"The World Commission on Dams seeks to learn from the global experience of building and managing dams in order to understand why they have become controversial and to propose criteria and guidelines for future dams, and their alternatives, worldwide," said Skinner.