Eightmile Lake Dam
Eightmile Lake Dam
LEAVENWORTH — The operators of the remote Eightmile Dam about 12 miles southwest of Leavenworth can now begin engineering design for a new structure.
The concrete-and-earthwork dam was built in 1933 in what is now the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and the Icicle-Peshastin Irrigation District uses it to channel water from Eightmile Lake to supply about 3,000 irrigation customers. The dam needs replacement to cope with increased runoff stemming from wildfires in 2017.
The state Department of Ecology released a final environmental impact statement today that gives the go-ahead for a new dam design. The report finds a new structure would have relatively little effect on surrounding wildlife and vegetation.
The irrigation district now plans to construct a new earth and reinforced concrete dam with a 180-foot primary spillway, and a powered release valve that could be controlled remotely for additional waterflow from the 80-acre alpine lake.
Eightmile is one of four high lakes which act as the irrigation district’s reservoirs, alongside Colchuck, Square and Klonaqua lakes. All were dammed prior to the creation of the national Alpine Lakes Wilderness in 1976, and the district holds ownership easements to operate and repair the outflow dams.
Degradation to the existing Eightmile Dam caused local concerns in 2018 as a catastrophic failure would imperil homes in the small Icicle Island community, in the Icicle Creek channel below the dam.
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