Basin water plan may have to wait 2 years for funds

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Significant funding to jump-start an estimated $5 billion plan to improve water supplies for farmers and communities and bolster fish runs could be two years away.

A diverse planning group of basin water interests earlier this fall adopted a $20.9 million set of what are called early-action items to get the ball rolling for the larger project that involves new storage, habitat improvements, land preservation, fish ladders, water conservation and other elements.

The federal Bureau of Reclamation is being looked at to provide $14 million of the money to launch work on some of the projects. The state would supply the other approximately $6 million.

But with the state facing a deficit and Congress locked in a budget battle, meaningful amounts of money will have to wait until 2014, officials said Wednesday as the planning group gathered at the Yakima Area Arboretum for an update on the plan.

Dawn Wiedmeier, the bureau's deputy area manager, said the agency would have to try to scrape together money from current appropriations for this and the next fiscal year.

"I don't expect $14 million," said Wiedmeier. "I don't see that happening until 2014 or 2015 at the earliest."

And the state may not be able to come up with the $6 million, either, said Derek Sandison, head of the state Department of Ecology's Office of the Columbia River.

A reduced amount around $3 million may be more likely, he said.

The one optimistic note, both say, is Gov. Chris Gregoire and officials of the federal Department of Interior are fully aware of the project and support its goals, thanks to the unanimous local support for it from the Yakama Nation, irrigators, local governments, state and federal agencies and a consortium of conservation groups.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressed support for the plan when he visited the Yakima Valley in September. He urged supporters to submit the early-action plan to his office so funding could be sought.

The Ecology Department and the bureau have been leading the charge to put together the overall plan for meeting future water needs. The three-county basin has suffered through five droughts in the last 20 years.

The interest groups early this year expressed support for its elements. Those elements include expanded storage at Bumping Lake, a new reservoir at Wymer in the Yakima River Canyon, fish ladders at basin dams, water conservation and water marketing, preservation of forest and shrub steppe habitats, groundwater storage, and operational changes to make better use of available supplies.

A programmatic environmental impact statement on the plan, one that looks at its overall goals and not specific elements, is out for public review.

A public comment period ends Jan. 3.