Reader supports Hansen

Moses Lake is the fifth largest lake in Washington State with up to 18 miles in length and over 120 miles of shore line covering 6500 acres. The current Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District (MLIRD) budget is over $1.2 million with the support coming from the taxpayer. The current dredging project was to be complete in 2-3 years and now changed to 5 years and the sand bar may never be gone. Less than 4,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed in 2011 with the reported removal by the MLIRD at over 20,000 cubic yards. Please drive by Parker Horn on highway 17 and see what your tax dollars have purchased with very little change in the sand bar and a small pile of sediment.

The current planned dredging area is about 1/20th of the lake area and at the current removal rate will require over one hundred years to clear Moses Lake of sediment. The sediment process took about 50 years to reach our current state. The cleaner lake water in 2011 I feel is primarily due to several extrinsic factors not reported. Moses Lake experienced the first summer on record having no days over 100 degrees, the Bureau of Reclamation increased water flows in Crab Creek with plans to increase flows in 2012 having a flushing effect with fresh water and lower water temperatures, and Moses Lake stopped pouring treated sewage water in the lake.

The MLIRD needs to consider a larger dredge and working on a new and better plan to remove sediment. Thank you Mick Hansen for asking the difficult questions about the dredging on the Parker Horn. We are dredging the least assessable and under utilized part of Moses Lake.  Please vote Mick Hansen and help bring accountability to the MLIRD Board.