RICHLAND — The “non-failure emergency” declared for the Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River in March has been lifted.
Priest Rapids is the closest dam upriver from the Hanford nuclear reservation and the Tri-Cities.
On Monday, the Grant PUD said it had worked with the Federal Emergency Regulatory Commission to remove the emergency condition for the dam.
In late March, water was discovered leaking into the dam’s spillway monoliths, the large concrete structures that support the piers holding up the spillway gates stretching 1,142 feet across the dam.
As a precaution, the maximum depth of water behind the dam was lowered 3.5 to 6.5 feet.
The leaking was discovered during drilling to look for water intrusion, and more drilling has been done to learn more and relieve pressure on the leaking area.
The leak appears to have occurred where one pour of concrete was completed and then another was added on top of it during construction.
An analysis is being done to determine why the bond did not hold and if future fixes will be needed.
Monitoring equipment has been installed.
The emergency did not present a safety risk to the public or Grant PUD workers, the public utility district said.
