Roza Irrigation District dumps plan to build emergency drought-relief system

The Roza Irrigation District board decided this week to scrap plans for an expensive emergency drought-relief system in light of rising cost estimates and an improving water-supply forecast.

Concerned about initial forecasts that predicted dire drought conditions next season, the board voted in October to pursue building a temporary floating pumping system on the Kachess Reservoir that could draw an additional 50,000 acre-feet of water out of the lake for an estimated cost of about $57 million.

New estimates from the district’s contractors raised the mid-range price estimate to $78 million.

“I still think the project is a good project, but it’s clear the costs have gotten away from us,” said board president Ric Valicoff before the vote. “We’ve got many emails and we appreciate everyone’s involvement so we could make a good decision.”

Even at $57 million, the district’s growers had been divided about whether the project — which could add $85 an acre annually to assessments over the next 10 years to pay for a 13 percent boost in water supply next season — was worth the price.

Growers with permanent crops were largely in support of the project, while those with row crops and small farms were mostly opposed.

But given the improved water outlook, even most project supporters at the packed board meeting seemed pleased with the decision not to move forward.

In October, the district, which has junior water rights, was looking at the possibility of just 35 percent supply for 2016. But recent storms increased the snowpack in the mountains to just over normal in the area around White Pass and about 75 percent of normal near Snoqualmie Pass, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

That’s definitely an improvement, said District Manager Scott Revell, but he added that it’s very early in the season and there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the forecast. He said one consultant who provides forecasts to the district is calling the drought over, but the National Weather Service is predicting a warmer than usual winter, which favors more rain and less snow accumulation.

“We’re developing a variety of operating scenarios, depending on the water supply,” he said. “It would be wonderful if it just keeps snowing and that snow sticks around through the spring.”

One orchardist who declined to give his name said that while he had supported the proposal, the debate was turning neighbors against each other and so he was glad the improved water forecast put the project out of consideration before community discord worsened.

Frank Lyall, an orchardist from Grandview, also said the board made a good decision in light of escalating costs and an extremely tight time frame.

“With the time constraints, it was affecting the project’s ability to be cost-effective,” Lyall said.

The many unknowns about the rushed, complex proposal — would it secure necessary permits in time or result in lawsuits from Kachess area homeowners, for example — also made it hard for growers to support, even if the extra water would have been worth the cost to them, Lyall added.

Although the board canceled its plans to pursue the pump system for next summer, it is still interested in a permanent version of the system that could be used in future droughts. It directed staff to continue looking into that option, which is also included as part of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan.

Investing in such a system for long-term drought insurance, rather than just for temporary use next summer, has much broader support among growers.

In other business, the board raised the per-acre assessment for 2016 by $48 to $182. Valicoff said the increase will help the district replenish its drought fund, which was used to pay for leasing additional water from other districts last season and other water-saving measures.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Roza Irrigation District dumps plan to build emergency drought-relief system."