Columbia Basin progress continues

A table on a hill overlooking Interstate 90 near Warden was where progress continued for the Columbia Basin.

It's where an agreement was signed between the state Department of Ecology and the Bureau of Reclamation to continue work on distributing additional water through a second pipe built at the Weber Siphon Complex.

The new infrastructure will provide water from Lake Roosevelt to land in the Odessa sub aquifer region. A place where wells are drilled up to 3,000 feet to reach needed irrigation water.

The new water source is expected to create 35,000 jobs, add $3 billion to the state economy, and provide water to roughly 100 communities.

It is more than a 14 foot concrete pipe running water under I-90.

It is progress. It is relief. It is hope for a better tomorrow.

It helps expand agriculture in central Washington, moving our economy forward.

It relieves farmers facing wells drying up and the communities waiting more than 15 years to increase their water supply.

It provides optimism for a future where we use our water with increased efficiency for the biggest benefit to our local and state economies.

Perhaps the best element of this infrastructure being built is how it was built. Numerous small government agencies came together like creeks feeding a river. The state and federal agencies joined them, adding their capabilities and helping share the work.

Together they succeeded in expanding the Weber Siphon Complex. Together they improved the future of the Columbia Basin and our state.

Thank you.

- Editorial board