North Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam near the town of

Grand Coulee Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed in the U.S. state of Washington. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about 60 miles (100 km) southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower ...

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States *Grant County, Arkansas *Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky *Grant County, Minnesota *Grant County, Nebraska *Grant C ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. Construction of the dam began in 1946 and it was completed in 1951. Along with Dry Falls Dam about to the southeast, North Dam creates the reservoir

Banks Lake Banks Lake is a long reservoir in central Washington in the United States. Part of the Columbia Basin Project, Banks Lake occupies the northern portion of the Grand Coulee, a formerly dry coulee near the Columbia River, formed by the Missoula Fl ...

within the ancient

riverbed. The lake serves as the equalizer reservoir of the

Columbia Basin Project The Columbia Basin Project (or CBP) in Central Washington, United States, is the irrigation network that the Grand Coulee Dam makes possible. It is the largest water reclamation project in the United States, supplying irrigation water to over of ...

. Near the North Dam's left

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

is the entrance to the feeder canal of the project. The canal serves to either deliver water to the Pump-generating plant at Grand Coulee Dam or return water to Banks Lake from the same

pumped-storage Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential ...

plant. The North Dam, near the town of Grand Coulee, has a maximum height of and a crest length of . Draft Environmental Statement, Columbia Basin Project, Washington; Columbia Basin Project, Ephrata, Washington; Department of the Interior, (INT DES-75-3), Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior; Washington, D.C.; 1975 Crest elevation of both dams is , and the maximum water level in Banks Lake is elevation . Both North and

Dry Falls Dry Falls is a scalloped precipice with four major alcoves, in central Washington scablands. This cataract complex is on the opposite side of the Upper Grand Coulee from the Columbia River, and at the head of the Lower Grand Coulee, northern ...

dams have of

freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...

for protection against wave action due to high winds.

External links

Columbia Basin Project

References

{{reflist Dams in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Grant County, Washington United States Bureau of Reclamation dams Dams completed in 1951 Earth-filled dams 1951 establishments in Washington (state) Dams in the Columbia Basin