The thing is… before the dams went in, things weren’t in any better shape. The dams help mitigate some of the water flow issues, but when the water supply drops, that’s going to have impact.

And eventually it will hit everyone on the Columbia. So better everyone start finding alternative solutions now than the US and Canada fighting over who gets to keep the most water.

The problem of course is that the current generation has grown up with the dams in place, so the US is accustomed to building in the flood plain and Nakusp to Trail is used to having a certain amount of usable water.

And the dams are going to continue to be useful, as we’re going to end up with cycles of drought and flood going forward; they’ll still protect against the floods, but won’t provide as much power or reliable transportation, starting upstream.

Hopefully a strategy is worked out that smooths out the water supply in a way that benefits everyone and we don’t go to ad hoc management, but also hopefully that doesn’t just result in everyone pushing dealing with the underlying supply issue further down the road.