East Columbia Basin Irrigation District announces scheduled season start

OTHELLO — The East Columbia Basin Irrigation District announced Monday that issues anticipated to cause possible delays to the start of the 2024 irrigation season have been successfully addressed.

According to the announcement, remedial work performed on the Main Canal near Billy Clapp Lake has been completed and East Low Canal filling began on Wednesday as scheduled. Deliveries from the East Low Canal will begin March 25 as originally scheduled. There are no impacts to ECBID deliveries from the Potholes East Canal.

“On behalf of the Board and team at ECBID, I would like to thank the Bureau of Reclamation and our partners at the Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District for their prompt and diligent work to address earlier concerns and ensure the Columbia Basin Project’s Main Canal is back in service and fully operational,” ECBID Secretary-Manager Craig Simpson said in the announcement.

Last week the Bureau of Reclamation performed routine seepage monitoring along the Main Canal below Pinto Dam and identified a location with higher-than-normal rates of flow, according to the statement. This situation prompted Reclamation to dewater the Main Canal prior to irrigation startup to better understand the source of the seepage water and develop a plan to address it. Moving forward, ECBID crews will assist with upgrades to the monitoring system to improve detection for preventative maintenance activities, the statement said.