EVENT DETAIL

Come join us on Thursday, November 21st for our last lunch time presentation of the year by Shane Philips from Mott MacDonald, who will be presenting on Priest Lake Water Management Study. Please find Shane's bio and a short description of the study below.

We look forward to seeing you!

You can always visit our webpage for further updates and notices.

Abstract: 

Priest Lake is located in the northern Idaho panhandle near the Canadian-US border.  The lake system is composed of lower and upper Priest Lakes connected by a 2.5-mile river (Thorofare).  In 2015, limited water supply and drought conditions in northern Idaho created operational challenges for maintaining the required summer lake level and downstream river flow discharges from the lower Priest Lake outlet dam.  Additionally, sustainable navigable access from the lower lake into the Thorofare navigation channel became increasingly challenging due shoaling of the Thorofare as a result of the deterioration of a timber breakwater structure and lower summer water levels.      

The Priest Lake Water Management Study was initiated in 2017 by the Idaho Water Resource Board (IWRB) to evaluate opportunities for improving operation of the Priest Lake system in order to meet long-term IWRB management objectives.  The project goals include improved Lake level management to meet Idaho code required water levels, maintain minimum flow requirements in Priest River downstream of the dam, improve navigation in the Thorofare, and reduce maintenance costs for Thorofare dredging and breakwater repairs.  The presentation will describe methods and results of the study for the improvements to the overall lake system management, improvements to the outlet dam and improvements to the Thorofare navigation channel and breakwater structure. The project is currently in final design and scheduled for construction in the Fall of 2020.