EPHRATA — After decades of stalled progress, the City of Ephrata is taking its first steps toward getting more than 500 acres of downtown removed from the federal floodplain, a move city officials say would lift a major economic burden from residents and businesses. 

The effort centers on Dry Creek, the source of the alluvial‑fan floodplain that spreads across the heart of the city.  

Project Engineer and Grant Writer Dave Bren said the city is now following a structured, three‑phase plan that begins with grant funding and ends – potentially decades from now – with congressional action to formally remove Ephrata from the flood zone. 

“We really should have started this two decades ago,” Bren said during the April 1 city council meeting. “It takes a long time to do this. There’s a lot of steps.” 

First grant awarded, second pending 

The Washington Department of Ecology has issued a draft award of $125,000 for a Comprehensive Stormwater Conditions Assessment, according to a Jan. 29 letter from the agency. The grant will provide basin mapping, contours and other data that overlap with flood‑management needs, though it cannot be used directly for flood‑control construction. 

“It’s a draft award, but when you read it, it’s like you got it,” Bren said. “We should know by July 1.” 

The city has also applied for a $100,000 Strategic Infrastructure Program grant through the Grant County Economic Development Council to design a modern version of the 1972 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood‑diversion plan. That design would be the first step toward constructing a channel capable of carrying a 100‑year flood. 

A multi-agency undertaking 

The diversion channel that protects Ephrata today was pieced together over more than a century by farmers, federal agencies and local governments. Much of it lies outside city limits, complicating maintenance and upgrades, Bren said.  

“It takes multiple agencies to work together,” Bren said. “It takes private property owners, everybody, really, to be able to maintain it.” 

Phase 2 of the city’s plan focuses on restoring that maintenance, including coordination with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Grant County and property owners. It also establishes a Dry Creek Flood Control Zone District to manage long‑term upkeep. 

Phase 3 would reconstruct the Corps’ 1972 design, or a similar one: including a debris basin, new bridges, a concrete‑lined diversion channel and a finished levee system capable of containing the 100‑year flood. 

After the construction is finished, the city will then have to go to Congress to get permission to be removed from the flood zone.  

“Then you still have to go to Congress, and you have to get them to make the change that you're no longer in the floodplain, because physically, you can't be flooded anymore,” Bren said. “So, there's, there's so many steps to the federal thing alone, just trying to get this small thing that has to do with our city through the federal level and Congress is going to be, oh, my goodness, a lot of work.”  

A 10‑ to 20‑year timeline 

Even with full funding, Bren said the process will be slow. 

“Let’s just say it takes us six to eight years to get through all the grants and construction,” he said. “Then you still have to go to Congress and get them to make the change that you’re no longer in the floodplain.” 

He estimates the full effort could take 10 to 20 years. 

“We’re literally at the very beginning of our mountain climbing,” Bren said. “We’re taking our first steps right now.” 

Bren gave an example of Wenatchee working on building its third bridge.  

“It took them, like, 20 years or so to get it funded, designed and built, and it was an absolute economic necessity,” he said. “So, it could be 10 years for us. It could be 20. The timing is really hard to nail down since we have only taken the first couple of steps. Give us another year or two and we will have a much better idea.”  

Economic stakes 

More than 533 acres of downtown Ephrata lie within the flood zone, forcing homeowners and businesses to pay for flood insurance and complicating loans, remodels and new construction. 

“It’s like throwing a wet blanket on the economics of downtown,” Bren said. “For the average family, paying another $100 a month for flood insurance is devastating.” 

He said the flood designation has discouraged investment for decades. 

“If I’m a new business moving into town and I find out it’s a flood zone, I’m going to start thinking, ‘Do I want to make that investment?” Bren said.  

Bren deserves the spotlight 

Mayor Steve Oliver said the city’s progress on the issue is a direct result of Bren’s work. 

“I want to give Dave the whole spotlight on this,” Oliver said. “He’s laid out a path to get there. It’s going to take time, but we’re finally moving forward.” 

Bren said the city will continue updating the public as the project advances. 

“It’s going to take time, but we’re working on it,” Bren said. “And we need the community’s support as we move forward.”