Aquifer efforts 'turn corner'

COLUMBIA BASIN - Federal support has begun to rally for efforts to bring more groundwater to the Odessa Subarea.

This and other updated information will be offered when the Columbia Basin Development League annual conference begins Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building.

The conference is open to the public without charge.

Last year the league charged a registration fee, League Project Director Mike Schwisow said. This year, the league worked with the Washington State Potato Commission as a sponsor to offer the event as a public information meeting.

In the evening, the league has its annual business meeting and dinner, with a $30 fee for the dinner, beginning at 6:30 p.m. A reception runs from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Rep. Doc Hastings was scheduled to be keynote speaker at the dinner, but the House of Representatives was advised their target adjournment date is now Nov. 16, so Hastings' in-state director and former state legislator Barb Lisk is expected to fill in.

During the conference, the league expects to discuss the current status of the aquifer within the Odessa Ground Water Management Subarea, a legislator panel on funding infrastructure projects and the latest information from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's appraisal study. Bureau Study Manager Ellen Berggren is scheduled to speak during the conference.

The bureau presented the study information in several meetings Oct. 23.

"We're about halfway through the process now," Schwisow said.

The project was originally projected to last about five years, and is on time, he said.

The federal government and the state of Washington are partners in the study, each expected to contribute to the projected cost of $6 million, offering $600,000 per year. The state included the funding from the start, Schwisow said, with the process to get written into the federal budgeting process, which is developed several years out.

Initial offered amounts from the federal side fell short of the $600,000 goal, and when Congress failed to pass a budget for the 2007 fiscal year, a continuing resolution reverted back to the previous year's expenditures.

"So all we had for Fiscal Year 2007 was $50,000 on the federal side," Schwisow said. "Fortunately, the state has been willing to spend ahead with their funds available and they have taken up the slack. So the state side of this partnership has kept the study on track and on time."

By the end of September, the state had already put in $1.2 million.

"We turned the corner this year though," Schwisow said. "A key to federal appropriations is to be in the president's budget. We made it into the president's budget … The president proposed in February $185,000."

In committee, Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell, and Hastings and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers were able to get an additional $1 million added to both the Senate and House appropriations bills.

"Unfortunately, we're in the same fix we were last year - Congress still has not passed the appropriations bills," Schwisow said. "But what it signals there is … the commitment is there to see the study through to the end."

With the bureau completing its appraisal level, the study now has a ballpark idea of costs of identified alternatives to replace Columbia Basin Project water with water from the Columbia River.

As the range of alternatives narrows, the cost of doing the necessary work increases, Schwisow said.

"We're turning the corner from these theoretical alternatives to 'Let's start talking about, if we're going to get this job done, here's what it's going to cost,'" he said. "Just start the process of how talking about how we put that together - who's going to pay what and what's the landowners' share is going to be, what role does the state and federal government need to play?"

League Executive Secretary Alice Parker said she told several landowners they might want to sit down when they hear the ballpark estimated costs. They responded she should be sitting down when she heard their costs without the alternatives.

"They can stand some costs, because their costs are extremely high right now," Parker said. "They're looking at what it is costing them now and what it will cost them in the future, but they're also (seeing) this will be a reliable source of water versus uncertainty."

For more information, access the League Web site at http://cbdleague.com.