Mar 01, 2014 12:23 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

A crack was found along the base of a dam in Washington State, Reuters reported.

Although the 65-foot-long crack on the Wanapum Dam poses no public danger, it prompted utility managers to lower water levels to assess needed repairs, Reuters reproted.

The 2-inch-wide crack was seen in the "spillway" - a channel that allows surplus water to escape and is used for the controlled release of flows from a dam - of the 8,320-feet-long Wanapum Dam. The dam is a large hydroelectric power plant on the Columbia River that currently can generate more than 1,000 megawatts of power, the utility said late Friday.

"As a precautionary measure, the water above Wanapum Dam (forebay) is being drawn down to reduce the pressure on the spillway while inspectors investigate," Grant County Public Utility District spokesman Thomas Stredwick told Reuters.

Stredwick said the dam, which is about 18 miles upstream from Priest Rapids Dam in a rural part of central Washington, was still generating electricity.

"But lower water flows during repairs could force the utility to buy power on the open market and affect the broader Columbia River hydroelectric system," Reuters reported.

"All these dams coordinate to generate energy on a regional scope," Stredwick was quoted as saying in the Seattle Times. "If Wanapum is impacted, that has impacts on dams upstream as well as below."

As a result of the crack in the dam, officials have dripped the water level by 6 feet. They plan to reduce it another 14 feet by Monday, Reuters reported.

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