Projected start is 2010

COLUMBIA BASIN - Constructing a fix for depleting aquifer levels in Odessa could start in 2010.

The Bureau of Reclamation presented four alternatives in a draft study for replacing water in the Odessa Sub-Area Aquifer Wednesday to the Columbia Basin Development League. The study area is 121,000 acres of land irrigated with groundwater. The final study will be released Sept. 29.

Study Manager Ellen Berggren said an appraisal of the options takes six months to a year, and a feasibility study takes about three years. After those studies are complete, the chosen project needs funding approval from Congress. When the funding is obtained, contracts can be put out and construction can begin.

Steve Connors, a member of the Development League, said the residents in Odessa with their wells running dry are being told the problem will be fixed.

"There's no quick fix here for the problem," Connors said.

Berggren said there is no way to get around the process.

One option is to build an East-High Canal system that can supply groundwater to the entire area. A second option is to develop the northern portion of the East-High Canal and enlarge and expand part of the East-Low Canal. That option also supplies groundwater to all 121,000 acres.

The third option to enlarge and partially expand the East-Low Canal without developing the East-High Canal would supply water to 60 percent of the land, and the final option to build distribution facilities for acreage north of I-90 would supply water to 40 percent of the land.

A preferred alternative will be selected from the four, Berggren said.

Each option comes with different water-supply needs. The most is option one, needing 520,000 acre-feet of water.

Richard Erickson with the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District said sources of water include Banks Lake, the Dry Coulee Resovoir, Rocky Coulee Resovoir and Lind Coulee Resovoir and Lower Crab Creek Resovoir.

"It has to comply with the Endangered Species Act," he noted. During the dry years, from September through January, water is consistently available from the Columbia River.

"There's water to be had there, if you can make it work," he said.

While the bureau works on the study, the Odessa Aquifer Coordination Team is developing projects to maintain irrigation in the sub-area. Projects being developed to cut depletion of the aquifer include paying deep-well irrigators not to irrigate, paying them for conservation program participation and a Bonneville Power Administration buy-back program.