Additional Odessa Groundwater Replacement Area canals coming

OTHELLO — East Columbia Basin Irrigation District water will be coming to portions of the area north of Warden and east of Moses Lake. Irrigation district directors approved agreements with landowners that will allow the construction of water delivery systems into areas now served by groundwater wells.  

Craig Simpson, ECBID secretary-manager, said the district has a contract with the US Bureau of Reclamation to provide water to 90,000 acres in what is called the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project area. An earlier pilot project left the district with about 87,700 acres in the project area, and Simpson said the new agreements will go a long way to meeting that goal. 

“Seven new (memorandums of understanding) that we’ve signed with landowner groups,” Simpson said. “That’s to start the design work for (delivering) to those lands that are interested in being parts of those systems.” 

The ECBID has already constructed two water systems to provide water in the project area, with two more nearing completion of the design process. The MOUs approved by ECBID directors will add seven more projects.  

Simpson said all the new systems will deliver water via pipe rather than open canals. 

“All of these will be pressurized, most likely from a pumping plant,” Simpson said. “We will look for opportunities to make deliveries that are gravity pressure, (but)they'll still be enclosed pipe. It won't be open (canals).” 

One of the delivery systems that went into operation in 2025 uses gravity rather than a pumping plant, he said. 

“The landowners do have pressure at their delivery points. Low pressure – they still have to boost it a lot of times for their circles. But they have pressure at their delivery point,” he said.  

Jon Erickson, chair of the Columbia Basin Development League, one of the organizations spearheading the project, said it’s a big step toward finishing a project that’s been in development for many years.  

“We're looking to have all of the 90,000 acres under design and/or contract – and/or contract, that’s important there. Basically, we'll have committed all of the authorized acres in the Odessa groundwater replacement program to a delivery system,” Erickson.  “We’re starting to realize those fruits of the decades' worth of efforts that have been put in.” 

Many of the existing groundwater wells tap into the aquifer that also provides water for most of the municipalities in the Columbia Basin. Water levels in the aquifer have been declining, and most of that water has been used for irrigation.  

The area that uses groundwater wells is bigger than the 90,000 acres, Erickson said, but transitioning some of that area to surface water will reduce pressure on the aquifer.  

“It’s a great temporary rescue mission for the aquifer,” Erickson said. 

Simpson said it’s too early to determine construction timelines. It takes longer to design a pressurized system than one that uses gravity, he said, and there’s a lot of other work to do before construction can begin. 

“If we have a design going, you know, we'll start doing, you know, environmental compliance projects in conjunction with it or in parallel. We'll try to start doing easement acquisitions in parallel,” he said. “We really can’t build until we have an easement.” 

The district will be working with the landowners in the project area as well, he said. 

“Since it's still voluntary with the landowners, there will be a landowner input, which is why we have the (memorandum of understanding agreement) so we can talk to them about what we want to do,” he said. 

    Construction crews pour concrete for an extension of the water delivery system from the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District to the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project. Irrigation district directors recently approved agreements to extend the system.