MOSES LAKE — It’s going to cost a lot of money to provide alternative water sources for the city of Moses Lake, but some of the possible alternatives will cost more than others. City officials provided the Moses Lake City Council with costs for various alternatives Tuesday. 

Moses Lake, like most cities in the Columbia Basin, is looking for new sources of water to add to, and in some cases replace, its existing water supply. Mayor Dustin Swartz said the information provided Tuesday is crucial to determining the path forward. 

“These are the numbers we really needed,” Swartz said.  

Moses Lake and other Columbia Basin cities get most of their water from a deep underground aquifer, which also serves some farms between Moses Lake and Odessa. The aquifer hasn’t been able to recharge as fast as the water is pumped out. Most cities in the Basin, Moses Lake included, are looking for other sources. 

City officials have come up with three possible sources, including drilling new wells that are closer to the surface. The other alternatives include pumping and treating water from Moses Lake itself for part of the year or pumping and treating water from nearby irrigation canals for part of the year.  

Swartz said council members are still looking at the options. 

“We haven’t decided on any of these,” he said. 

Drilling new wells closer to the surface has the potential to be the most cost-effective, according to the study. Analysts looked at locations near Blue Heron Park, Cascade Park, an existing well on the north shore and the site of a new water reservoir. Costs ranged from about $58.9 million for the Cascade Park site and $54.9 million for the Blue Heron site to $35.6 million for the reservoir site and $2.2 million for the existing north shore well. Costs were estimated in current dollars.  

The bulk of that cost was the acquisition of water rights. Buying water rights was projected to cost about $29 million at Blue Heron and Cascade parks, and about $13 million at the reservoir site. Swartz said the reservoir site would produce less water, so the water rights would cost less.  

The existing well has water rights. 

The wells in Blue Heron and Cascade parks have the potential to produce the most water of any alternative, an estimated 7.2 million gallons per day.  

Analysists looked at three alternatives for withdrawing lake water. A facility that produced 6 million gallons per day would cost about $62.2 million to build; one that produced three million gallons per day would cost about $52.2 million. The third alternative would build multiple smaller facilities, each producing about one million gallons per day. That would cost about $30.2 million. 

The most expensive would be withdrawing water from the canal system. Year-round withdrawal from a canal near the Port of Moses Lake, designated EL 20, was projected to cost about $105.5 million for year-round withdrawal. Taking water from the East Low Canal was projected to cost about $95 million. Building infrastructure for taking water from EL 20 for about half the year would cost about $87.9 million.  

Building pumping and treatment facilities is only part of the project, and the cost, however. 

“There are a lot of other dynamics at play here,” Swartz said.  

Finding and acquiring water rights is one factor; in terms of getting permits, it might be more feasible to withdraw water from the canal system than to drill new wells.  

Figuring out how to use water more efficiently is another.  

“I believe through coordination there’s a smarter way to use the water that’s available here,” Swartz said.  

Some water sources will require more treatment than others, Swartz said.  

Finding solutions may vary from one part of town to another. Swartz cited Knolls Vista as an example. 

“That’s one pressure zone we’ve identified that has a very big issue,” he said. But it’s on the lakeshore, so the solution might involve lake water. 

Swartz said one solution stood out to him.  

“It’s pretty clear to me that the best solution is shallow wells,” he said.  

The information provided Tuesday should help move the process along, he said. 

“I think things will move a lot more quickly now,” he said.