More water on tap for the Basin

MOSES LAKE - Much-needed surface water is expected to reach some Basin irrigators as early as this year - the result of progress federal, state and local agencies are making in solving the decline of Odessa aquifer groundwater.

A contract recently put in place between the Bureau of Reclamation and the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District will allow 30,000 acre-feet of water from the Lake Roosevelt Project to be delivered to some 10,000 acres of farmland.

An acre foot equals the amount of water covering one acre, one foot deep. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.

The irrigation district hopes to begin delivering the water this year via the Weber Siphon.

Reclamation's Pacific Northwest Regional Director Lori Lee and ECBID President Don Osborn signed the contract during a recent media event.

At the same event, state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon also presented Reclamation with a secondary use permit that will bring 164,000 acre-feet of Columbia River water to an additional 70,000 acres in the Odessa subarea.

That water will be delivered via the East Low Canal.

The delivery of this water under the secondary use permit was outlined in the official Record of Decision for the Odessa Subarea Special Study, signed by Lee last April.

Water stored in Lake Roosevelt under Reclamation's existing storage right will be released from Grand Coulee Dam and delivered to farmers currently relying on Odessa groundwater wells, according to Ecology. The delivery will serve lands both north and south of Interstate 90 that are within Columbia Basin Project boundaries.

Bellon said the delivery of surface water will come as a huge relief for farmers relying on Odessa groundwater. Groundwater levels in the area have dropped by as much as 200 feet since 1980, she said.

"This will ensure our farmers in the Odessa subarea are able to continue to do the incredible work that they do for the agricultural economy in the state of Washington," Bellon said.

The new source of water will prevent the decline of groundwater levels in the Odessa aquifer and support the estimated $200 million worth of irrigated crops that come out of the area annually and about 4,500 jobs, she said.

Bellon said being able to deliver water to the Odessa subarea fulfills one of the agency's top priorities- finding a new source of water for farmers other than groundwater.

"We're delivering real, wet water as early as the end of this year for farmers in the Odessa sub basin," she said. "This is the realizing a dream - this is realizing a promise."

Craig Simpson, ECBID secretary manager, said ongoing construction at the East Low Canal will eventually make delivery of the 164,000 acre-feet of water possible.

The district began work on widening the East Low Canal last November, according to a previous Columbia Basin Herald article.

Simpson said about $26 million in state funding was initially made available for the project, however the total cost is unknown until bids come back for some of the construction work.

"There is a substantial amount of work that needs to be done," Simpson said. "We've got a great amount of funding from the state, but we don't think it is enough to complete the project."

The district is working on securing additional funding, he said.

Simpson said the project is split into two zones.

The first zone, which is already underway, involves the widening of 13 miles of the canal. Roughly 1 million cubic yards of earth will be excavated from this portion of the canal. In addition, the district will have to make modifications to four county road bridges and install a new radial gate in this zone.

Work on the second zone, which involves widening 31 miles of the canal, will take place later this year, he said. Eight county road bridge modifications will be made during this stage.

Five new siphon barrels and five new radial gates will be installed as well.

The district is currently in the process of reaching out to landowners as they work on developing and building a delivery system to get the water from the canal to farmlands, according to a previous article.

District officials previously said they needed to see which landowners were interested in a delivery system and how much they were wiling to pay for one.