Hydrology of Hungry Horse Reservoir, northwestern Montana

Abstract

Hungry Horse Project, on the South Fork Flathead River in northwestern Montana, is an important element in the comprehensive water-resources-development plan for the Columbia River basin. It is used primarily for at-site and downstream power generation and local and downstream flood control. Hungry Horse Reservoir has a usable storage capacity of 2.98 million acre-feet for at-site production of electrical energy. Previous studies have indicated that there may be an additional increment of ground-water storage in the permeable bed and banks of the reservoir that responds to changes in reservoir elevation. This is referred to as bank storage.