PUBLIC NOTICE

Pursuant to RCW 43.21C.080, notice is hereby given that Adams County is the SEPA Lead Agency for the following multi-jurisdictional project. The lead agency has issued a Determination of Non-Significance (MDNS) for the following wastewater discharge project submitted by OB-3 Resource Management LLC.

Please note: This project has been altered and resubmitted in order to address both public and agency concerns.

In general the project is now described as follows:

The project consists of a pipeline from the existing Warden Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility (Warden IWTF) in Warden, Washington, approximately 7.8 miles to a storage pond and pumping station at the Stahl Hutterian Brethren Farm (Stahl Farm) for irrigation on agricultural crops as a nutrient supplement. The new system proposes to pump the process water from the existing lagoons to an existing 4,047-acre farm approximately 3.5 to 7 miles east-northeast of Warden. The improvements will include upgrades to the pump station at the lagoons, construction of 100 million gallons (MG) of seasonal storage at the farm site, a pipeline to the new storage, and pumping and piping to deliver the process water to the farm site from the storage. The existing lagoons will continue to be used for partial treatment and seasonal storage capacity. By expanding the land treatment acreage, moving out of town, and providing seasonal storage, the new system alleviates nitrogen overload, hydraulic overload, and some of the odor nuisance associated with the existing system. OB-3 Resource Mangement, LLC will operate the pumping, pipeline, and storage pond. The Stahl Farm will operate the irrigation and cropping.

The process water will be pumped from the existing Warden lagoons through the new pipeline consisting of 14-inch diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic transmission pipe with high density polyethylene pipe in steel sleeves or casings under paved roads and major canals and over Lind Coulee. The pipeline will be installed by boring under most paved roads and major canals and will be attached beneath the bridge on Road 6 to cross Lind Coulee. Under minor canals, the transmission pipeline will also be installed in steel sleeves placed by open cutting and providing concrete repair upon completion when the minor canals are empty.

Two new 125 hp centrifugal pumps will provide up to 2,000 gallons per minute (2.88 million gallons per day (MGD)) flow from the existing lagoons to the new storage pond and the new farm pump station at the storage pond. The two pumps will be operated in an on-off mode to balance the flow with the hydraulic load to the pump station sump and the pumping needs of the system.

The pipeline route will begin at the existing Warden IWTF pump station and traverse the adjacent farmland to the northeast until it reaches Road U (Engineering Report, Figure 4). The pipeline will extend northward along Road U to Road 6 and then eastward along Road 6, crossing the Lind Coulee at the Road 6 Bridge. The pipeline will parallel natural gas pipelines along Road 6 to the Lind Coulee. After crossing the Lind Coulee the process water pipeline will cross the natural gas main then proceed eastward. From the Lind Coulee the pipeline will continue along Road 6 to the Adams County line where Road 6 becomes Roloff Road. The pipeline will enter Adams County by crossing Fox Road then extend to the east along Roloff Road before leaving the right of way, crossing a pasture to the northeast, to reach the East Low Canal. The pipeline will be placed beneath the canal through a boring where the canal crosses a topographic low point. From the East Low Canal, the pipeline will traverse open rangeland to the southeasat back to Roloff Road. It will continue along Roloff Road across Howard Road then continue east along the farm road one mile to the southwest corner of Section 34 and end at the storage pond in the south half of the southwest quarter of Section 34 in Township 18N, Range 31E.

Water will enter the storage at the bottom directly or into the top through air injectors. The stored water will be pumped from the bottom of the storage to the fields on the Stahl Hutterian Brethren Farm. Process water will be distributed to the individual fields from a new pumping station that will allow adequate control for record keeping for supplying process water nutrients such as nitrogen to the crops. The typical expected period of storage is December through April but could be as long as November through May depending on weather. Some short-term process water storage during May through October may be needed if irrigation must be ceased for maintenance, harvest, or other unforeseen circumstances. Additional use of the pond may include supplemental fresh ground water storage in summer to augment irrigation. Up to 1,000 acre-feet of municipal and industrial (M & I) will be needed as a source of make-up water to provide sufficient flow to the land treatment fields and to control odors as a water cap or dilution water. Sources of the fresh water ground water for irrigation will be from existing ground water rights. The M & I water for maintaining treatment processes, if approved, would be purchased through a new, interruptible right from the US Bureau of Reclamation.

A dam failure and downstream analysis for the pond identified the need for a secondary containment berm to prevent damage to the East Low Canal in the unlikely event of a catastrophic storage pond failure. The secondary containment berm will be constructed immediately down slope of the storage pond to control water flow toward the East Low Canal. The berm will be approximately 20 to 25 feet tall and located approximately on the farm field road on the southern end of the section line between Sections 33 and 34, T18N, R31E The berm will have a culvert through the bottom to prevent disruption of the natural stormwater runoff drainage less than or equal to a 20-year storm flow. The proposed secondary containment berm culvert size is similar to the culvert size beneath the East Low Canal to prevent flooding and damage to the canal if the pond should fail.

The site is generally located as follows.

Land Treatment Farm and Storage:

Stahl Hutterian Brethren Farm

Generally within the area from the East Low Canal to Kulm Road and south from Franz Road to Hiller Road. The farm and storage portion of the project is within all or parts of Township 18N, Range 31E, Sections 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35; Township 17N, Range 31E, Sections 2, 3, 4, 10, and 12.

Pipeline:

North and east from Warden Industrial Wastewater Treatment Facility to Road U.

Road U northward to Road 6. Road 6 eastward across the Adams County Line and along Roloff Road to the East Low Canal. Beneath the East Low Canal then eastward along Roloff Road and the subsequent farm road to the storage in the south half of the southeast quarter of Township 18N, Range 31E, Section 34.

Copies of the SEPA checklist are available to the public at the Adams County Planning Department at 165 N. 1st/Othello, WA 99344 (ph. 509/488-9441).

Pursuant to WAC 197-11-350, Adams County will not act on this proposal for 14 days from the date of issuance. Timely comments on this threshold determination must be received no later than June 16, 2006. Any action to set aside, enjoin, review or otherwise challenge such action on the grounds of noncompliance with provision of Chapter 43.21 RCW shall be commenced as required by State Law.

Adams County Planning Dept.

#06016

Pub.: June 1, 2006