Large cracks have appeared in the Kennewick Irrigation District's main canal, some as close as 20 feet from Interstate 82 near Benton City.
KID manager Doug Grover told board members Tuesday that the cracks in the canal about a mile south of the Chandler Pumping Station were discovered by KID workers about a week ago. They were checking the canal before the water is turned on in the first week of April.
"It didn't look like that three weeks ago," Grover said.
KID has just about two weeks to repair the canal walls before beginning to flush out the canal April 1.
Corpuz said cracks have appeared in three places. Plans are to reline those areas with a durable plastic liner about one-eighth of an inch thick. The liner comes in panels that would be cut into strips, heat-welded together and then bolted to the concrete canal liner.
"Twelve to 15 panels will be replaced," said Corpuz.
Grover said repairing the segments with concrete would take too long and the concrete wouldn't have time to dry properly before water turn-on.
"There is no way to get all of this done this year," he said.
The repair is expected to cost about $100,000, he added.
"It's really fortuitous that you found this," said board member Bill Kinsel.
If the cracks hadn't been discovered before the water was turned on, water from the canal would have seeped under the heavily-traveled interstate and could have caused significant damage, he said.
Corpuz said KID staff members are considering working with other area irrigation districts to purchase precast concrete liners for replacing the aging canal liner. But the plastic lining is less expensive and is designed to last 50 years, he added.
"There's a possibility that we could leave it permanently," he said.
In other business, the KID directors voted to sell a 1.56-acre lot at Grandridge Boulevard and West Rio Grande Avenue at Vista Field for $373,747. The buyers, whose name has not been disclosed, plan to build a medical building on the lot. The sale will not close until the final plat is approved by the city, which could take up to six months.
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