Avista reducing water discharge at Post Falls Dam this weekend

POST FALLS - Avista has begun reducing flows through Post Falls Dam in accordance with the Spokane River Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license.

Discharges from Post Falls Dam have been following license requirements to assure adequate rainbow trout fry emergence downstream.

With the warmer weather, fry emergence has been accelerated, allowing Avista to reduce discharges from the dam to help meet the license requirement to bring Lake Coeur d'Alene toward the summer elevation of 2,128 feet.

Over the course of the weekend, Avista will reduce the discharge at Post Falls Dam from more than 3,600 cubic feet per second to 1,400 cfs. Flows of the Spokane River at Spokane will recede and river recreationists should monitor flows by visiting avistautilities.com/waterflow when planning water-related activities.

Based on weather and river flow forecasts from the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, Avista expects inflows to Lake Coeur d'Alene to decrease, and subsequent flows in the Spokane River to further decrease next week.

Given the less than average snowpack this year, the warm spring which lead to an early snowpack runoff, and the ongoing forecasts for low precipitation, Avista expects that Post Falls will operate at minimum discharge requirements for much of this summer.