The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are working together to divvy up 132,500 acre feet of water from Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam to towns, farms and fish & wildlife in a vast area east of the Cascades. It's part of the Columbia River Basin Management Program administered by Ecology.
The Columbia River Basin Water Management Program has a vision to preserve and enhance the standard of living for the people of Washington by strengthening economic conditions and restoring and protecting the Columbia Basin’s unique natural environment. Their goals include enhancing the natural environment to benefit people, fish and wildlife, as well as meeting the needs of out-of-stream water users.
Areas marked in red on the map you see here represent as many as 379 holders of "interruptable water rights" who are increasingly at risk of having their water supply cut off during drought years. Areas marked in green represent irrigators of 10,000 acres of land in the Odessa Ground Water Study Area who sit over a rapidly-depleting aquifer. Through the Columbia River Basin Management Program that depleting aquifer will be fed by canals, some of which are already in place, and some that still need to be built.
In 2006 decades of heated debate culminated in House Bill 2860 which established the need for a Columbia River Basin Water Management Program, also referred to as The Columbia River Basin Water Supply Development Program. The plan directed Ecology to aggressively pursue development of water supplies to benefit both in stream and out-of-stream uses through storage, conservation and voluntary regional water management agreements. The bill also created a Columbia River Basin development account. The state Department of Ecology later approved $46 million for water-storage and conservation projects throughout Eastern Washington.
On March 20, 2008, Governor Chris Gregoire signed legislation that will release the largest delivery of new water to towns and farms in the Columbia Basin, and for endangered salmon, in three decades. The incremental storage releases at Lake Roosevelt will draw down the lake by an additional foot in normal water years and 1.8 feet during drought years. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot, or about 325,850 gallons. 132,500 acre feet of water amounts to more than 43 million gallons.
The management plan has included dozens of studies and input from organizations, individuals, local governments, PUDs, environmental groups and educational organizations. It also required significant buy-in from tribal stakeholders. Historic partnership agreements with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian Reservation and the Spokane Tribe were key to its success.
Click here for frequently asked questions about the management plan.
Click here for more on the Columbia River Basin Water Management Program’s goals, objectives, and mission.
Click here for the Columbia River Basin Water Management Program’s timeline.
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