Future of Moses Lake to be discussed at daylong council meeting

MOSES LAKE — The future of Moses Lake, and how to plan for it, will be the subject of a daylong Moses Lake City Council meeting Sept. 16. City Manager Rob Karlinsey said Moses Lake has some challenges ahead, and planning for them will make it easier to meet them. 

“The morning will be spent going through capital improvement plans,” Karlinsey said. “(In the afternoon) we’re going to be talking about the water systems plan. And then we’ll be talking about the water resources strategy, and that, to me, is going to be a highlight of the day. What are we going to do to wean ourselves off this reliance on the deep basalt aquifer?” 

Karlinsey estimated 90% of the city’s water is supplied by a deep underground aquifer, one that’s been collecting water since the Ice Age. Since it supplies a lot of cities in the Columbia Basin and is used by some farmers as well, it’s not getting replenished as fast as it’s getting pumped out. 

The city has some other options – there are aquifers closer to the surface that replenish more quickly, Karlinsey said. There are options for the city to access surface water, like irrigation canals. As a long-term solution, city officials can advocate for completion of the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project and the East High Canal. The canal is part of the original design for the Columbia Basin Project.  

“I see it in three main strategies, shallow aquifers, surface water and the third one is lobbying to get agriculture onto the canal (system),” Karlinsey said.  

Council members will discuss the options and ways the city can work with other communities to implement them.  

Working on a six-year capital facilities plan will be a focus of the morning session, Karlinsey said. The projects under review are upgrades to existing city buildings, rather than new construction.  

"These aren’t dreams or wish list things. They’re actual projects that we plan to get done, with actual money identified,” he said. “And why six years, not just one year? Because the life of a capital project is often multi-year.” 

Part of the workshop will be identifying those projects and making a priority list. 

“We’ll have a list to present to them,” Karlinsey said.  

A temporary fire station in the northern section of Moses Lake will be on the list.  

“The good news is that we have the personnel and vehicles already to staff a third fire station,” Karlinsey said. “We just need to find a building now.”  

Finishing the roundabout at Yonezawa Boulevard and Pioneer Way will be on the list, along with a much longer-term project, a second crossing of Moses Lake. 

“Not that we’ll get it done in the next six years, but we’ll start showing study money and design money and site locating money and things like that,” he said.