Columbia River Basin Storage Options - Yakima Basin Water Storage

Yakima Basin Water Storage

Ecology and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) are jointly considering a range of proposals to increase water availability in the Yakima River Basin based on Congressional direction provided in 2003. The agencies completed appraisal assessments on a number of these alternative proposals in 2004:

Appraisal Assessment of the Black Rock Alternative

and 2006:

Yakima River Basin Storage Alternatives Appraisal Assessment

• Black Rock Alternative– A reservoir with an active capacity of 800,000 acre feet. It would be located north of Sunnyside on Highway 12 stretching west from the Highway 241 junction. It would be filled with water pumped from the Columbia River behind Priest Rapids dam.
• Wymer Alternative– Located about 10 miles south of Ellensburg between the Yakima River and I-82, this reservoir would hold 174,000 acre-feet of water pumped from the Yakima River.
• Bumping Lake Alternative- A new dam would be built at Bumping Lake, increasing its capacity from  33,700 to 458,000 acre-feet.
• Keechelus-to-Kachess Pipeline Alternative- Currently, Keechelus Lake often does not have the capacity to store all of the runoff it receives. Under this proposal, the excess runoff would be piped 5 miles to Kachess Lake.

The assessments determined that the Bumping proposal wouldn’t meet storage goals and would be environmentally undesirable. It was also determined that the Keechelus-to-Kachess Pipeline Alternative would have supplied extra storage in only one year out of the 23 years examined in the study. Neither alternative will receive further consideration.

Ecology and the Bureau are now working on a feasibility study (Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study) to investigate the alternatives in greater detail. The feasibility study will be composed of a planning report and an environmental impact statement (PR/EIS). In addition to the Black Rock and Wymer alternatives, the PR/EIS will look at:

• Water Marketing – Encouraging the reallocation of water for both instream and out-of-stream uses by building an infrastructure to facilitate water marketing, banking, and transfers.
• Enhanced Conservation– Providing incentives to encourage farmers to plant crops that require less water and institute other on-farm conservation measures,  institute better dry year management practices, line canals to decrease seepage.
• Aquifer Storage and Recovery – Storing water for both instream and out-of-stream use by pumping it into aquifers for subsequent pump retrieval or passive recovery through infiltration back into the Yakima River.

The PR/EIS is scheduled to be released in 2009. A draft version of the study was made available for public comment in February 2008.

Questions about the Draft PR/EIS can be addressed to Mr. David Kaumheimer, Environmental Program Manager. Phone: (509) 575-5848 ext. 232; Fax: (509) 454-5650. TTY users may dial 711 to obtain a toll free TTY relay.  Or Email:  storagestudy@pn.usbr.gov.

Copies of the report are available by phoning (509) 575-5848 ext. 612. It is also available for download here.

The public hearing facilities are physically accessible to persons with disabilities.  Requests for special assistance should be made by February 15 to Mr. David Kaumheimer at the contact information above.

Previous actions on the PR/EIS

The Bureau published a NEPA Notice of Intent to Prepare a Combined PR/EIS in the Federal Register on December 29, 2006.  The corresponding SEPA Determination of Significance (DS) and request for Comments on Scope of EIS was also released on December 29, 2006.

A comment period for scoping (determining the extent) of the PR/EIS was held from December 29, 2006 to January 31, 2007. Public scoping meetings were held in the morning and afternoon of January 23, 2007. The Scoping Summary Report was released in March of 2007.

More Information is Available

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation web site - Background, scoping meetings, recent documents, study process and timeline, partners, contacts.

Comments received from the public during the comment period for the PR/EIS (see above) have prompted Ecology to initiate preparation of a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) for the Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study. Specifically, Ecology determined that it should evaluate additional water supply alternatives that were not considered in the January 2008. A number of the comments also noted that it is not possible to adequately evaluate all reasonable water supply alternatives without consideration of habitat and fish passage needs to meet fish restoration goals of the alternatives. Such needs will be addressed in this evaluation as well.

Ecology is requesting comments regarding the scope of the Supplemental Draft EIS. The Supplemental Draft EIS will not duplicate alternatives or analyses already presented in the January 2008 Draft Planning Report and EIS.

Agencies, affected tribes, and members of the public are invited to comment on the scope of the Supplemental EIS. You may comment on alternatives, mitigation measures, probable significant adverse impacts, and licenses or other approvals that may be required. The comment period will open on June 27, 2008 and end on July 30, 2008.

Written comments may be sent to:

Derek Sandison
Central Regional Director
Department of Ecology
15 West Yakima Avenue, Suite 200
Yakima, WA 98902-3452

Or emailed to: dsan461@ecy.wa.gov (please use “Yakima River Basin scoping comments” in the subject line).

The deadline for submitting comments is July 30, 2008.

Two public open houses will be held on July 21, 2008 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Yakima Convention Center at 10 N 8th St. in Yakima (map). Ecology will accept verbal comments at each event.

Scoping Notice