Irrigation district putting in new pumping plants

Othello project complete in May

OTHELLO — If all goes according to plan, the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District is going to be more efficient.

The district is in the process of replacing its pumping plants with the Saddle Gap pumping plant replacement under way, and plans to replace three more plants in Warden.

"Aging infrastructure; these plants were all built in the 1950s and they've just finally reached their life expectancy," district Engineer Ian Eccles explained. "It's not that we're having pumps necessarily breaking down or anything like that, everything's running. It's just kind of a preventative measure, so we don't get ourselves stuck in the middle of water season with a broke-down pump we can't find parts for."

The pumping plants lift water to areas where gravity could not carry the liquid, Eccles said. Laterals follow contours in the ground, but certain points could not be fed without a station.

The Saddle Gap project in Othello is a $5 million plant. Construction began in August and is scheduled to be complete the first week in May.

"It's going a little slower than we would like, but in this case, we have the existing plants able to run," Eccles said. "We're going to provide water to the farmers the end of March. From that period to the beginning of May, we're going to run the old plants."

Eccles said the delay was due to multiple suppliers delaying product delivery.

There would be no redundancy for the Warden plants, two of which Eccles and the district hope to finish in March 2008 and the last in March 2009. Including district work, the three plants costing a total of $5 million.

"As soon as we demolish the old plant, we have no way to get water to the customer until the new plant is running," Eccles said.

There are about 45 more pump stations Eccles designs and the district staff plans to build. Another plant, the EL-55 on the East Low Canal east of Warden, went online in the spring of 2006.

"It's going to be based on budget and assessments to the water users," he said, estimating the district might do one larger plant per year for the next few years, then three to four smaller plants.

The changes mean the stations will operate with more efficiency, Eccles said, and the ability to vary the water flow based on demand.

District water users should not see as much of an impact as the district, Eccles said.

"The idea is there's not going to be as many breakdowns, they're going to be more able to depend on the pumps providing them with water," he said.

Eccles' predecessor as district Engineer, Craig Simpson, said the plants have a positive impact upon the environment because of their energy efficiencies.