Luncheon to be held in Moses Lake to discuss Odessa Aquifer financing

The Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) will be hosting a Luncheon on October 27th at the ATEC Masto Conference Center at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake to provide an update and to discuss the privately funded/financed project to bring surface water to Odessa Aquifer deep well irrigators east of Moses Lake.   There will be a presentation by Dr. Darryll Olsen, CSRIA Board Representative, as well as a panel discussion by irrigators, and representatives of major banks/lending institutions.

The presentation will include:

• The Water Service Contract submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, for System 1 of the Privately Funded/Financed Project. 
• How the Water Service Contract would allow for the construction of a privately funded pipeline (System 1) and other improvements to deliver surface water east from the East Low Canal to about 14,000 acres of farmland north of I-90 in the Odessa Subarea by as early as 2016.
• The System 1 Project pre-construction engineering has been completed and the participants have secured approved financing (with lending rates locked-in for the near term).
• Several major banks/accounting firms have put together a multi-million dollar privately financed package that will build the System 1 infrastructure to get critically needed surface water to the farms east of Moses Lake.
• The execution of the Water Service Contract by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would allow for construction and development of System 1 to begin very soon.

System 1 would be the first step in the overall plan/project to bring surface water irrigation to about 70,000 acres (or more) of farmland in the Odessa Subarea, both north and south of I-90. The initial development (Systems 1-4) would reach as far south of I-90 to Lind Coulee.  Further development to the south (of Lind Coulee) will require additional expansion of the East Low Canal.

The Privately Funded/Financed Project has been widely endorsed by many newspapers and decision-makers as a viable, cost-effective and realistic option to immediately begin replacing the use of groundwater from the declining Odessa Aquifer in eastern Washington.  Additionally, it offers a practical and reasonable solution that can be developed in a short timeframe to begin effectively resolving the Odessa Aquifer depletion issue.

Furthermore, many legislative leaders have expressed support, and CSRIA recently presented the project to the House Capital Budget Committee at a special work session in Olympia.

For more information about the October 27th Luncheon, please contact Darryll Olsen at 509-783-1623 or email csria.public.affairs@gmail.com to RSVP.