WASHINGTON STATE CAPITAL BUDGET INCLUDES NEEDED DOLLARS FOR WATER IN THE COLUMBIA BASIN PROJECT

The State’s $6 billion capital budget included irrigation projects supporting the Columbia Basin Project. Funded projects included the following:

· $16,000,000 to assist in planning, designing, engineering, development coordination, and construction of pump stations or other improvements at the EL 79.2 or associated stations serving the same area that expand the delivery systems of the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program (OGWRP), sufficient to irrigate at least 13,000 acres.

· $400,000 to assist the Grant County conservation district in applying for support from the United States department of agriculture-natural resource conservation service to secure federal funding for surface water delivery systems on the Columbia Basin Project.

· $150,000 for improvements at EL 85, including radial arm gates.

· $5,000,000 for the continued development and building of the EL 22.1 OGWRP surface water irrigation system including a canal pump station, an electrical power substation, booster pump stations, and a large diameter full-sized pipeline sufficient to irrigate 16,000 acres.

The City of Othello also received $515,000 from the infrastructure fund for a long-term project to conserve water and to find ways to increase the city’s water supply. The project is in its second phase, with the goal of using outside water, in this case from an East Columbia Basin Irrigation District Canal, to help replenish the city’s aquifer.