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Department of Ecology News Release - September 25, 2008
08-260
OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology’s (Ecology) water management program for the Columbia River Basin has been reorganized under a new director.
Ecology Director Jay Manning announced today that Derek Sandison will lead the department’s new “Office of Columbia River” to be headquartered in Wenatchee. Sandison will report directly to Manning under the new organizational structure, while maintaining a side-by-side relationship with the agency’s water resources program.
Sandison, 55, has been director of Ecology’s Central Region Office in Yakima since 2003 and has more than 30 years of experience in water management in local and state government as well as the private sector.
Funding to find new water supplies to benefit the economy, communities and the natural environment in the Columbia River Basin was authorized by the Legislature in 2006. The Office of Columbia River created after Gerry O’Keefe left state employment as Ecology’s Columbia River water policy lead. O’Keefe is the new natural resources director for the Grant County Public Utility District.
“This is a big job and Derek is absolutely the right person to head up the Office of Columbia River. He is smart, knows the basin incredibly well and respected by all. He has an unbelievable ability to move things along and will be working hard with our partners in the basin to ensure the completion of water conservation projects and the delivery of new water supplies in Eastern Washington,” Manning said.
Manning announced Sandison’s appointment at a Moses Lake meeting of the Columbia River Policy Advisory Group. Manning also released a list of 18 water conservation and storage projects receiving a total of $46.4 million in Ecology grants.
Project funding is part of the Legislature’s promise of new water supplies for the Columbia River Basin. Among his new duties, Sandison will oversee Ecology’s role in the delivery of millions of gallons of stored water to Eastern Washington from Lake Roosevelt behind the Columbia River’s Grand Coulee Dam. The new water will be released starting in 2009 for irrigators and cities and to support stream flows for endangered fish.
“There are many challenges ahead for water management in the Columbia River Basin, but fortunately I am supported by a highly qualified and dedicated Ecology team,” Sandison said.
As director of the new office, Sandison will be working with more than 15 staff members in several Ecology programs who have been assigned duties in the Columbia River program. Although the Columbia River office will be located at Ecology’s Wenatchee office, program staff will continue to work in Ecology’s Yakima and Spokane offices and at the Lacey headquarters building.
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Media Contacts:
Dan Partridge, 360-407-7139; dpar461@ecy.wa.gov
Joye Redfield-Wilder, 509-575-2610; jred461@ecy.wa.gov
For more information:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cwp/crwmp.html
For a photograph of Derek Sandison: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/images/offices/dereksandison.jpg
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
