YBSA Monthly Report February, 2015
YBSA Monthly Report
February, 2015
Possible Drought Conditions: Once again the Yakima Valley agricultural community is in danger of drought conditions due to the lack of snowfall in the Cascade Mountains. The water needed for instream flow (fish) and out of stream needs (irrigation) may not be available. Our five reservoirs in the Yakima Basin are more than 90% full, but that amount of water only provides about 1/3 of what is necessary. The runoff from the average snowpack in the mountains provides the additional 2/3 of the water necessary to provide what is needed annually in the Yakima Basin. As of the end of February, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima Project Systems Status NRCS Snotel sites for the upper Yakima Basin has 22% of normal snow pack and the lower basin sites are reporting 38% of the average snow pack. Without a large snowfall in the next 2 months the Yakima Basin could be in for drought conditions this summer.
YBSA Response to DEIS: YBSA is submitting a response to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant (KDRPP) and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance (KKC) projects. YBSA’s mission is to ensure an adequate supply of water for now and future generations for all water interests in the Yakima Basin. While we support the Integrated Plan in the goal to propose and implement projects that enhance aquatic ecosystems, improve drought-year supplies for agriculture, and provide for future municipal needs, we have concerns about the proposed projects.
The December 2014 WorkGroup meeting notes report that the Implementation Committee is currently working on an authorization bill for the KKC,KDRPP, Cle Elum Pool Raise Project, fish passage, and water conservation initiatives. The exclusion at this time of the other two major storage projects as reasonably foreseeable future actions, the approach being taken for storage authorization and appropriations, the significant unavoidable adverse impacts indicated in the DEIS, and stakeholders adamantly opposing this action and a somewhat similar action with respect to the existing Bumping Lake are not very reassuring that joint water storage operations presented to date in the Integrated Plan will be a reality. It is most apparent however, that the KDRPP and KCC projects will not meet drought year water needs and will very adversely impact the immediate area. Under these circumstances is this a wise investment? The full response is available at www.ybsa.org.
Friends of Lake Kachess Editorial in the Northern Kittitas County Tribune: I am writing as a resident of North Kittitas County to express my grave concern and opposition to the controversial Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project (YRBWEP). This proposal would transfer water from Lake Keechelus and Lake Kachess to junior water rights holders in the Yakima Basin at a cost approaching $1 billion. It would drain 200,000 acre feet of water a year from the two lakes and spill it into the Yakima River, to be taken out by irrigators. To be clear, an acre foot of water is one acre, one foot deep in water. Now imagine one acre of water…38 miles high! Or think of it as an acre of water the height of 14 Mt. Rainiers! That is the additional amount of water that would be drained from our two lakes in Kittitas County.
The devastating impacts of such an act on our environment is hard to imagine. However the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) just released on this project acknowledges it will deplete the aquifer, endanger threatened fish species, reduce recreational opportunities for individuals and families, possibly cause wells to fail, and permanently destroy elements of a fragile ecosystem enjoyed by thousands of Washingtonians. Despite the clear risks represented by the project, the DEIS only states that it will “monitor and mitigate” damages after they occur. This is unacceptable and should be opposed by everyone who cares about protecting our environment for future generations.
But the damage to our environment is not even the worst of this controversial project. A study conducted by distinguished scientists from Washington State University and the University of Washington, at the request of the Washington State Legislature, documented it is not only an environmental disaster, it is an economic disaster. A team of scientists and economists conducted a Benefit-to-Cost analysis of the two projects that are now being considered by the Legislature. They showed conclusively that costs would far exceed benefits. In fact one project would lose $.80 of every taxpayer dollar spent, and the second project would lose $.54 of every taxpayer’s dollar. No private enterprise would consider such a venture, and no public initiative should either. At a time when our State is facing serious challenges with regard to funding critical needs in education and infrastructure, it is unacceptable to waste taxpayer money in such a manner.
In summary, YRBWEP represents an effort by special interests in Yakima Basin to drain water from our aquifer, and even worse to drain dollars from Washington taxpayers for this environmental and economic disaster. In the strongest terms possible, I urge Tribune readers to oppose YRBWEP; neither we nor our environment can afford it.
Included with the permission of
Bill Campbell, PhD
Friends of Lake Kachess
Easton, WA