Othello continues water project research

OTHELLO — Water supply and getting additional water were the subject of a substantial discussion at Monday’s Othello City Council meeting.

Council members approved a $25,000 contract with Aspect Consulting LLC, and council member John Lallas said the contracted services will build on work already done.

“This is in addition to the previous study we already paid for,” Lallas said. “They compiled a bunch of data. Now they’ve got to do further work with that data to satisfy the requirements of continuing (the project).”

City officials have been working on an “aquifer storage and recovery” project for a few years, with the goal of finding ways to recharge the existing aquifer, or at least keep it from dropping further. Over the last 60 to 70 years the city has been using water faster than the aquifer can recharge.

Mayor Shawn Logan said the city is currently conducting a test to see if the proposed solution works.

“That pilot study still isn’t complete. It’s going to be done by the end of this year,” Logan said.

If the testing shows the project is feasible, water would be pumped from a canal operated by the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, treated, then either pumped into the aquifer or used to fill the city’s reservoirs. Logan said that would require a new treatment facility, and the city would be looking for grants to help pay for that, including from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

“We have to further develop our information to get ourselves eligible,” Logan said. “That’s what this is all about.”

“So by then we’ll know if we actually gained any ground as far as groundwater,” said council member Angel Garza.

“Right,” Logan said.

Lallas said some information already is available.

“I think they have information of what it accomplished, as far as how much they took and (pumped) into the ground and how much was removed, by analyzing the other wells in the region,” Lallas said. “They have some information put together on that. It’s not entirely conclusive, so they need to do more work and more testing.”

Lallas said one of the goals is to take pressure off the existing aquifer.

“If we set up a water treatment plant, it would treat the water to be used. We’d fill all of our storage every day above ground,” he said. “We would use it while it was available to us.”

Logan said the pilot projects haven’t been conclusive, at least not yet, on how much water actually is going into the aquifer.

“You’re not going to get all of that water back,” Logan said. “In theory, you’ll get most of it back, but those are studies that are still yet to be conclusive.”

Tim Flynn of Aspect Consulting said some information is available from the previous testing. The aquifer does recharge during the winter, but over the years it hasn’t been getting as much water back as has been used.

“We did confirm, actually both with the demonstration (project) and the prior pilot, that water levels were sustained quite a bit higher as a result of that recharge. And that is exactly what we want to see,” Flynn said.

Council member Jon Erickson said the water rights the city would be using, called “municipal and industrial,” would be interruptible water rights. Delivery of that water could be suspended if customers in line ahead of the city needed the water.

Flynn said the Bureau of Reclamation hasn’t said they anticipate any water shortages, but it would be something the ECBID would have to take into account. The city could take water early and late in the irrigation season, when demand was lower, Flynn said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.