YBSA Monthly Report, May 2018

YBSA Monthly Report

May 2018

Public Meetings: Public meetings were held at Cle Elum and Ellensburg presenting the Supplemental DRAFT Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) on the Lake Kachess Pumping Plant.

Conclusions of SDEIS: Major conclusions of the SDEIS are as follows:

• Change in water supply would improve water supply to proratable water users by up to 22 percentage points in the worst single-drought years, raising the proration percentage to about 53 percent of entitlement.
• Reclamation would operate the Keechelus Reservoir to Kachess Reservoir conveyance to help refill Lake Kachess following a drought. Kachess Reservoir would be drawn down by as much as 80 feet below existing minimum pool conditions.
• Based on modeled water surface elevations there would be an increase in days where Kachess Reservoir water surface would drop below 2,200 feet at which Big and Little Kachess reservoirs separate and would affect fish passage, particularly for Bull Trout. These impacts to passage of bull trout would be mitigated by passage improvements.

SDEIS Comment Period & Information Web Addresses: The Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant (KDRPP) & Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance (KKC) SDEIS 90-day comment period ends July 11, 2018.

The SDEIS is available for viewing on the internet at http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kdrpp/index.html and http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/eis/kkc/index.html

EIS Issues: The Following issues are not defined in the EIS:

• Annually the stored water in Lake Kachess Reservoir is part of the Total Water Applied (TWA) for instream flow for fish and irrigation districts who receive their water from the Yakima River. Once the reservoir has been pumped below the normal gravity flow to the Yakima River and the reservoir doesn’t refill, how much of the water pumped from below the normal gravity flow will be required to provide for the TWA?
• How and when will the Bureau of Reclamation develop written contract for those entities who will be required to address the operation and environmental requirements?
• The proposed Kachess pumping plant can only be approved when all affected participants have signed and agreed to operate and pay their share.

Go to www.ybsa.org for additional information.