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Department of Ecology News Release - November 4, 2004
04-200
OLYMPIA - Salmon and other fish inhabiting streams in the Yakima River basin will get more water to play in, thanks to $311,220 in grants from the Department of Ecology (Ecology).
The department will pay for three new projects that will replace some open, unlined ditch systems with closed piping.
Buried piping conserves irrigation water by reducing leaks and evaporation, thereby keeping more water in streams for fish, and it improves water quality by reducing silt and erosion that may flow back into the streams. Closed piping systems also help keep juvenile fish out of irrigation canals and ditches, where they become trapped and unable to migrate downstream. In addition, the projects will improve fish habitat by removing dams and other barriers, and by consolidating the number of sites where water is diverted for irrigation.
"These grants will help us meet growing demands for agricultural water while also conserving and restoring water for fish," said Joe Stohr, who manages Ecology's water resources program. "It's important that we use every drop of water wisely and efficiently."
The Yakama Indian Nation, Kittitas County Conservation District, Kittitas County public works department and state Department of Fish and Wildlife have worked with Ecology to identify which water-piping projects would most benefit water users and fish in the Yakima River watershed.
In 2004, state lawmakers earmarked nearly $2 million in grants that Ecology will make available to pay for water-piping projects across the state.
To date, Ecology has approved funds for the following projects in Kittitas
and Yakima counties:
* $125,000 to Kittitas County's public works department and Bull Canal Co. to install 800 feet of closed piping that will isolate Bull irrigation canal water from Naneum Creek. The project also will improve fish passage by removing a dam at the irrigation-ditch diversion site, increase flows in Naneum Creek by reducing leaks and evaporation and stop the co-mingling of Bull Canal water with Naneum Creek water to avoid a false-attraction problem for salmon migrating to the upper Yakima River.
* $110,000 to the Yakama Indian Nation to construct a 1.1-mile-long buried pipeline to create a single point of diversion from Simcoe Creek to supply irrigation water for Hubbard and Hoptowit ditches in Yakima County. The project also will remove upstream barriers for migrating fish, increase water in streams by reducing leaks and evaporation losses and prevent juvenile fish from being trapped between the two irrigation ditches.
* $76,220 to the Kittitas County Conservation District to install a specialized siphon pipe in the Bull irrigation canal that will route water under Little Naneum Creek. The project, which was proposed and supported by the Yakama Indian Nation, also will remove an existing diversion dam, build a series of low-step structures, or "weirs," to prevent erosion, provide new fish passage, improve water quality and eliminate the need to install a fish screen where the pipe will be located.
Ecology is working with applicants from other river basins to determine which water piping and conservation projects will receive the remaining $1.7 million.
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Contact: Curt Hart, Public Information Manager, 360-407-7139, or pager, 360-971-9610
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/wrhome.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
