  |
|
|
Department of Ecology News Release - May 3, 2001
01-070
YAKIMA - Nearly 50,000 acre-feet of emergency water has been approved for transfer to help meet the needs of Yakima River Basin farmers facing shortages this drought year.
During a special adjudication court session on Thursday, Yakima Superior Court Judge Walter Stauffacher okayed the transfer decisions made by the Washington Department of Ecology.
The transfer of 11 water rights will bolster water supplies for the Kittitas Reclamation District (KRD) and Roza Irrigation District during a water year where the two districts expect to receive no more than 28 percent of their regular water allocation.
Emergency transfers from West Side Ditch Company, Cascade Irrigation District, Trendwest Resorts and the Lamb estate will bring 42,037 acre-feet of water to KRD this irrigation season.
Roza Irrigation District will augment its supplies by another 7,064 acre-feet through transfers from the Sunnyside Division made possible by a program where some lands will be left fallow and through a water recovery project with the Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District.
The 11 transfer decisions are among the first emergency water-right exchanges to be approved in the Yakima River Basin. Additional water-right transfer decisions are expected in the coming weeks, with special court sessions before Judge Stauffacher. Decisions also are pending on some 32 applications for emergency drought wells.
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610, or pager (509) 574-0490
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/drought/droughthome.html (Link removed 12/01/2003)
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
