MOSES LAKE - About 70,000 acres of groundwater-irrigated farmland in Grant, Adams and Franklin counties would receive replacement surface water in a preferred alternative released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and state Department of Ecology.

It is hoped the project would avoid economic loss in the area and meet commitments detailed in the 2004 Columbia River Initiative Memorandum of Understanding between the bureau, state and irrigation districts, said Wendy Christenson, a technical projects program manager with the bureau.

With the declining underground water source, farmers have spent more money to drill deeper to reach water for their underground wells.

To address the problem, work is underway on a final Environmental Impact Statement for the estimated $730 million project. It's hoped the document is done by early 2012, she said.

She described the preferred alternative as something that could be developed in phases. It includes bringing water to land north and south of Interstate 90 from the existing East Low Canal.

Between eight and 12 feet of water would come from Banks Lake, a reservoir in Grant County, which was originally built as part of the Columbia Basin Project.

Already the lake is drawn down five feet annually in a typical year, so the additional drawdown would come to three to seven feet by the end of August, she explained.

Boat ramps are accessible at three feet, she said.

The drawdown may or may not have an effect on tourism, she said.

"We're evaluating this as part of the EIS," she commented.

Coulee City Mayor Rick Heiberg said he thinks the state and bureau have done a lot of research and a lot of work for a number of years.

"Naturally we agree all areas need water, including the Odessa aquifer," Heiberg said in part. "Up here on our end, we're concerned about the potential drawdown."

Heiberg said he was "concerned, but hope efforts would be made to mitigate problems."

He spoke of possible mitigation efforts to repair riparian areas or provide for the riparian area around the lake and water access facilities.

It's unclear when the unfunded project could start. An optimistic estimate is in the July 2013 time frame, explained Mike Schwisow, government relations of the Columbia Basin Development League.

He said the "old regime" for developing Reclamation projects involved completing feasibility studies and coming up with a project. Congress would consider the project for funding.

"Today, we're not sure if the federal government will be there to front end the project; probably not," he said. "That's the dilemma, now you look for what help the federal government could be."

He expects the federal government will probably want other partnerships to help fund the work, possibly with state government, local government and irrigation districts.

Schwisow acknowledged there is lot of interim work remaining to prepare the proposals.

The key thing to remember is the state isn't going to stop spending capital budget funds, but the pool is smaller and there is more competition, he said.

The preferred alternative was the result of the Bureau and DOE receiving input from the draft EIS, looking at the nature of public comments and where they were in the benefit-to-cost ratio.

He wasn't sure if the league had an official position on the proposal.

"We understand how they got there," he said. "It doesn't solve all the problems, but it's a good first step."