Odessa groundwater project receives $5.5M in state funding

RITZVILLE — The 2024 Supplemental Capital Budget for Washington includes $5.5 million in funding for the EL 22.1 Pipeline Turnout Project in the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, according to a Monday announcement from the EL 22.1 Landowner Association.

According to the announcement, the funds were secured by Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville. The EL 22.1 Project will help deep well irrigators and farmers in the declining Odessa Aquifer Subarea north of Interstate 90 and east of Moses Lake by providing surface water from the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District's East Low Canal to replace groundwater pumping from the aquifer, the statement said.

The proposed EL 22.1 Project would include a new canal turnout infrastructure, a large-scale canal pump station, booster pump stations and approximately twelve miles of large-diameter pipeline to provide Columbia Basin Project surface water to various farms and properties, the statement said. 

“Additionally, the EL 22.1 Landowner Association and the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District would use the above funding as a match to attract other funding sources, as we are planning to apply for Federal funding through the National Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Federal funds such as from the RCPP could help complete the EL 22.1 Irrigation Delivery System Project,” the statement said. 

Currently, the project is 60% engineered and will be 90% engineered soon, said the announcement. 

“Reaching 60% engineering is an important milestone as it means that the EL 22.1 Irrigation Delivery System Project meets all the engineering standards and requirements of the US Bureau of Reclamation,” the statement said.

More information on OGWRP can be found at ecbid.org.