WARDEN — The efforts of Washington legislators have resulted in federal funding to rebuild bridges as part of a long-term project to switch irrigators to surface water in a section of the Columbia Basin Project.

All of the work is connected with the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project, involving the Columbia Basin Development League and Grant and Adams counties. Sara Higgins, CDBL president, said the goal is to eliminate the reliance on groundwater wells for irrigation in the Odessa area.

Higgins said legislators obtained funding to replace bridges as part of a bigger effort to widen the East Low Canal. Widening the canal to accommodate more water is the first phase of the project.

“So we have these series of bridges in Adams and Grant counties that needed to be either entirely removed or replaced, or lengthened, in order for the East Low Canal to function in its new widened state,” Higgins said. “The widening is all done except for the bridges.”

Higgins credited U.S. Senator Patty Murray with helping obtain about $3.98 million to pay for the widening of the Road W Southeast bridge near Warden. Currently, it’s the only bridge that’s part of the project that’s under construction in Grant County. 

Grant County Engineer Dave Bren said the county also obtained about $886,000 from the state for the design and construction of the new bridge. 

“(Grant County) is not funding this bridge replacement, as the old bridge was in good condition,” Bren wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “However, it was necessary to widen the canal and the bridge to increase capacity for the Odessa aquifer.”

Bren wrote that county officials have received notification of the state funding, and expect confirmation on the federal funding in the next two to three months.

Higgins said the use of groundwater for irrigation had, and has, consequences that weren’t foreseen when state officials allowed it in the 1960s. The water comes from an aquifer that is difficult if not impossible to recharge, and it’s part of a bigger groundwater aquifer that ultimately supplies water to the towns, cities and industries throughout the Columbia Basin.

“So (the Odessa area project) is basically an aquifer rescue mission, and it’s ultimately intended to transfer the source of irrigation water for up to 87,000 acres of highly productive land off of the depleting aquifer and onto the sustainable source of surface water. Ultimately that preserves something like 85 billion gallons of water annually,” Higgins said. 

The two counties, however, didn’t have the money to replace bridges that are just not long enough but otherwise in good repair. 

“So qualifying for any kind of federal or state funding that might normally exist for bridge replacement - these bridges don’t qualify for that because they’re operational. They just need to be longer, and there aren’t programs that normally exist for that kind of challenge,” Higgins said.

The Washington Congressional delegation was sympathetic to the situation.

“Senator Murray has been a champion of this effort,” she said.

The Road W Southwest bridge is known as Bridge 247, and the work there hit a roadblock earlier this year, Bren said in an earlier interview.

Bridge 247 was supposed to be replaced with a temporary one-lane bridge while the new one was under construction. But one of the bridge supports was damaged while East Columbia Irrigation District officials were working on the canal over the winter.

“The pier that they hit was needed for our temporary bridge to rest on,” Bren said. “So now we don’t have a temporary bridge.”

Bridge 247 is projected to reopen in 2027. Design and engineering are scheduled for 2024, Bren said, with the project probably going out for bid in 2025. He estimated the project would take about 18 months. 

County officials will make some changes to the bridge design, moving it from its existing location and back to the original road, which will eliminate a sharp turn directly off one end of the bridge, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at [email protected].