Kachess Lake

Kachess Lake
Location	Kittitas County, Washington, USA
Coordinates	47°15′51″N 121°12′21″W
Type	reservoir, natural lake
Primary inflows	Kachess River
Primary outflows	Kachess River
Catchment area	63 sq mi (160 km2)
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	9.6 mi (15.4 km)
Max. width	1.2 mi (1.9 km)
Water volume	238,000 acre-feet (294,000,000 m3)
Surface elevation	2,254 ft (687 m)

Kachess Lake is a lake and reservoir along the course of the Kachess River in Washington state, USA. The upper part of the lake, north of a narrows, is called Little Kachess Lake. The Kachess River flows into the lake from the north, and out from the south. Kachess Lake is the middle of the three large lakes north of Interstate 90 and the Yakima River in the Cascade Range, the other two being Keechelus Lake and Cle Elum Lake.

Kachess Lake is part of the Columbia River basin, the Kachess River being a tributary of the Yakima River, which is tributary to the Columbia River.

The lake is used as a storage reservoir for the Yakima Project, an irrigation project run by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Although a natural lake, Kachess Lake's capacity and discharge is controlled by Kachess Dam, a 115 foot (35 m) high earthfill structure built in 1912. As a storage reservoir, Kachess Lake's active capacity is 239,000 acre-feet (295,000,000 m³).

The name Kachess comes from an Indian term meaning "more fish", in contrast to Keechelus Lake, whose name means "few fish".

External links

• Kachess Dam, United States Bureau of Reclamation
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kachess Lake, USGS, GNIS