From Washington To You
Tieton Dam and Rimrock Lake on the Yakima-Tieton irrigation project.
Photograph by the Bureau of Reclamation. National Archives 294737. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Yakima Project

Tieton Dam / Rimrock Lake · Yakima County · authorized 1905

Reclamation’s 1905 irrigation project waters about 464,000 acres along 175 miles of the Yakima River, including 136,000 acres on the Wapato Division.

The Bureau of Reclamation Yakima Project waters a comparatively narrow strip of land that extends 175 miles on both sides of the Yakima River in south-central Washington. Irrigable lands now served total about 464,000 acres. The Yakima River Basin Study states the federal project was authorized in 1905.

There are seven divisions: Storage, Kittitas, Tieton, Sunnyside, Roza, Kennewick, and Wapato. The Wapato Division is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and receives most of its water from the Yakima Project for 136,000 acres. Over 45,000 additional acres are irrigated by private interests under Reclamation water-supply contracts. Storage dams are Bumping Lake, Clear Creek, Tieton, Cle Elum, Kachess, and Keechelus.

The Storage Division manages the Yakima River water supply. The reservoirs have a total active capacity of 1,065,400 acre-feet. This pin is Rimrock Lake at Tieton Dam. The sources below are Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Geological Survey pages.

  • Geography & Geology
  • History

Sources (3)

Last reviewed: September 21, 2026

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