The electricity supply in the Northwest will remain adequate this spring and summer despite low runoff levels in the Columbia River Basin, where hydroelectric dams provide more than half of the region’s electricity, an analysis by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council shows.

“Low flows will reduce hydropower generation below normal, but there is no danger of a serious curtailment to electricity service, according to our analysis,” Council Chairman Bruce Measure said in a press statement today. “The power available from generating plants, including hydropower dams, wind turbines, and power plants that burn fossil fuels, is more than adequate to meet the anticipated demand for electricity this year.”

The precipitation since last October is 79 percent of normal, and snowpack is 73 percent of normal, in the Columbia basin, reports the Northwest River Forecast Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A year ago, the basin's snowpack was 91 percent of normal.

Based on snow and rainfall to date, the forecast for runoff through the end of August is much lower than normal -- just 65 percent of average measured at The Dalles Dam. If that estimate proves accurate, this would be the second-lowest runoff year since 1992.

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