Stimulus funds will aid irrigation, fish passage

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Farmers, fish and workers in the Yakima Valley will benefit from nearly $44 million in federal stimulus spending.

The money is earmarked for three projects to make efficient use of irrigation water in the Sunnyside Division and improve fish passage at Roza Dam, a key spot in the basin for fish migration.

The funding from the stimulus package announced this week will speed the start of the three projects. All had been close to construction, a requirement for stimulus consideration.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Yakima Irrigation Project, proposed the projects be considered for stimulus funding, said Dawn Wiedemeier, project field office manager in Yakima.

The funding amounts for the three projects are:

* $21.5 million to the Sunnyside Division to enclose in pipe about 100 miles of open distribution ditches serving up to 15,000 acres near Grandview.

* $17.5 million to build a new pumping plant and pipe in the 5,000-acre Benton Irrigation District near Benton City.

* $5 million to modify the Roza Dam gates to allow easier passage for fish.

"This is really good news," said Jim Trull, manager of the 99,000-acre Sunnyside Division. This will accelerate our conservation program we already are working on."

Trull estimated piping three major distribution ditches in the Grandview area will create more than 50 jobs over a two-year period in laying pipe and installing valves and meters.

Employment estimates for the other two projects weren't available Thursday.

The Roza project will modify one of the dam's two 110-foot-long gates at the diversion dam in the Yakima River Canyon, north of Yakima, to allow easier passage for migrating salmon smolts and adult steelhead.

John Easterbrooks , regional fishery program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the change will benefit fish.

"The fish agencies support the gate modifications and have been involved in the discussion and design. It provides for more flexibility in surface passage," he said.

Lowering the gate for longer periods of time allows fish to swim over its top rather than being forced to find a narrow opening at the bottom of the gate.

The Roza project will begin in October and be completed over two years, Wiedemeier estimated.

The Benton project involves a pumping plant near Benton City and piping the delivery system to improve efficiency and leave more water in the Yakima River between Parker, where the district currently diverts water, and Benton City.

Trull said the Sunnyside Division, which delivers water through the Yakima Valley to Benton City, proposed the piping project as part of a multiyear improvement plan to add smaller reservoirs along the canal, automate main canal operation and pipe laterals to reduce seepage and evaporation losses. Farmers will be able to make changes to irrigation schedules more quickly, which saves water.

Prior funding has come from federal appropriations under a 1994 law to help irrigators be more efficient and improve habitat for fish.

Trull said the stimulus money will complete about a third of the division's $67 million overall piping project.

The division is almost done with an initial phase of the modernization that cost $45 million.

In exchange for federal financial help, the division agreed to reduce its annual water diversion, leaving more water in the Yakima River for habitat.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.