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Columbia River Treaty: a Model for International Water Resource Collaboration

An article presented at the United States Society on Dams 2010 annual conference “Collaborative Management of Integrated Watersheds.”

“The Columbia River Treaty (Treaty) is an international Treaty established for the cooperative management of the Columbia River System in Canada and the United States. Since it was signed in 1961, the Treaty has served as an excellent example of international collaboration on water resource management. This paper will provide a brief background on the Treaty, describe the extensive international collaboration involved in managing the Columbia River System, and describe future strategies being developed for addressing changing conditions.

“The headwaters of the Columbia River are in British Columbia (BC), but only about 15 percent of the 259,500 square miles of the Columbia River Basin is actually located in Canada. Yet the Canadian waters account for about 38 percent of the average annual volume, and up to 50 percent of the peak flood waters, that flow by The Dalles Dam on the lower Columbia River. In the 1940s, officials from the United States and Canada began a long process to seek a joint solution to the flooding caused by the Columbia River and to the postwar demand for greater energy resources. That effort culminated in the Columbia River Treaty, an international agreement between Canada and the United States for the cooperative development of water resources regulation in the upper Columbia River Basin. It was signed in 1961and implemented in 1964. The Treaty has served as a model of international cooperation since 1964, bringing significant flood risk management, power generation, and other benefits to both countries.

“Sharing the benefits of cooperative water management was an integral principle in the Treaty’s design. The principle applied in the Treaty was to share these benefits equally. Thus, for flood control, Canada was paid 50 percent of the value of U.S. flood damages prevented. In exchange for operating the Treaty storage projects for power, Canada also received an entitlement to one-half of the estimated additional downstream power benefits generated in the United States. Long and short-term plans are prepared each year by both countries in order to manage the river system in accordance with the Treaty and optimize the benefits for both countries.

“Either country can terminate most provisions of the Treaty any time on or after September 16, 2024, with a minimum of 10 years’ written advance notice. The U.S. and Canada are conducting a multi-year effort to study options for managing the river if the Treaty were continued, modified, or terminated. These options, as well as the background and details of the treaty will be presented in this paper.” Abstract taken from article.

Author: Barton, James D.
Publisher: United States Society on Dams
Date: 2010-04

Columbia River Treaty: a Model for International Water Resource Collaboration