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Department of Ecology News Release - January 7, 2008
08-003
KENNEWICK – The city of Kennewick has entered into an agreement to receive up to
$1 million from the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to study how to
store millions of gallons of Columbia River water in basalt formations under
Southridge in Benton County.
The project is being funded by the state’s Columbia River water management
program that was authorized in 2006 and makes $200 million available to explore
new water resources from the Columbia River through storage, conservation and
voluntary regional agreements.
The city of Kennewick plans to take water from the Columbia River in the winter
and store it underground in natural aquifers, thereby reducing withdrawals from
the river in the summer. The pilot will help the state and municipalities learn
more about aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) projects and establish protocols
for implementing projects in the future.
Columbia River unit supervisor Dan Haller noted that the state’s Columbia River
water management program offers the perfect opportunity to explore projects like
Kennewick’s.
“Underground storage is appealing because there’s no dam construction and the
stored water will remain cool and clean and can be released at the times of year
we need it most,” Haller said.
The city will have another source of water from which to draw during times of
peak capacity, and water can be available in stream during the critical months
of July and August.
“Both the city and Ecology recognize benefits of further evaluating ASR as a
viable strategy for making additional water available through storage,
particularly during critical flow periods of the Columbia River,” said Bob
Hammond, Kennewick city manager
The first phase of the study will analyze whether the current site is viable for
an underground reservoir, and how much water might be stored at the site and how
the water stored might benefit stream flows and be allocated for out of stream
uses. The first phase is estimated to cost about $200,000.
Actual withdrawal and injection of water into the aquifer through test wells is
planned in the second phase of the project, based on results of the initial
study.
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Media contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, Dept. of Ecology, 509-575-2610
Peter Beaudry, City of Kennewick public works director, 509-585-4292
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
