[7] Washington OK's Bonds For Water Studies
A key element in the recent legislation focusing on Washington state's management of its share of Columbia River water passed into law yesterday when the legislature OK'd the 2006 supplemental budget. The budget includes bonding authority to fund $20 million in annual spending over the next 10 years to pay for $132 million in studies and $68 million for conservation projects dealing with Columbia water.
The studies will focus on developing plans for future water storage projects to satisfy needs of people and fish. Water stored for future use could ease conflicting demands for agriculture, municipal use, power and migrating fish. Another part of the recent legislation mandates one-third of any "new" water to be used to aid fish, and calls for no negative impacts to mainstem flows during the months of July and August.
A recent report commissioned by the Department of Ecology looked at 11 potential sites for off-channel storage of 300,000 acre-feet or more. Initial estimates of costs ranged from $520 to $2,960 per acre-foot, with several potential storage reservoirs expected to cost close to $3 billion to build.
The largest site is at Goose Lake, above Chief Joseph Dam on Colville Reservation land in Okanogan County, which could hold 3,350,000 acre-feet, where a 550-foot high dam would be nearly 12,000-feet long, with two saddle dams adding up to another 17,000 feet to keep from inundating Omak Lake.
But just where will the "new" water come from to fill up any of these potential sites? "That's a good question," said John Stuhlmiller of the Washington State Farm Bureau, who acknowledged that upstream states like Montana may not be too excited about the prospect. Canada seemed a more likely source.
But Stuhlmiller, who was part of the task force that hammered out the new agreement was upbeat. "This is by far the best year we've had in a long time," he said of the legislature's dealings with the needs of the agricultural sector . "We've made real progress in water issues and bio-diesel," he said, and credited Gov. Chris Gregoire for her hands-on approach as a major factor in getting the water bill passed. -B. R.
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