KID cuts watering time to 20 minutes per zone
Many Tri-City lawns may get browner yet with new watering restrictions announced Wednesday by the Kennewick Irrigation District.
It warned that this may not be the last cut to water use this summer.
Effective immediately, residential customers must cut their watering from a maximum of 30 minutes per zone to 20 minutes per zone, the district said. They may water twice a week according to their watering schedule.
Agriculture and other users of large amounts of water were being contacted Wednesday about similar new restrictions, the district said.
KID has limited water available because of the historically low level of the Yakima River, the source of KID’s water rights.
Its rights are for return flows, or water that’s taken out above Union Gap and then returns as groundwater to the river near Prosser. A minimum target flow has to be maintained at the Prosser Dam, with KID taking out only enough water to maintain that minimum.
The flow is unpredictable, with KID usually having indications of a drop in flow just a day in advance, said Jason McShane, KID engineering and operations manager.
Tuesday morning, the KID Board met and no further restrictions seemed immediately necessary, although the board discussed the likelihood that further cutbacks could be coming.
A day later, the water picture changed.
“The current outlook is poor, and further reductions will likely become necessary,” the district said in a statement Wednesday. “Continued cooperation with the watering schedules by all KID customers is critical to allow equitable distribution of the limited water available.”
The schedule customers have been following since May 31 helped KID make it through June with almost no water shortages despite 110 degree temperatures and a reduced water supply, McShane said.
It helped lower water use overall and it spread out demand for water so it was consistent throughout the day, he said. Usually, the district sees peaks as people want to water just before or after work.
But July could see hotter weather and less water.
If weather is hot upriver from the Tri-Cities, plants there will absorb more water and the rate of evaporation will be higher, meaning less water returns to the river and is available for KID use.
KID has applied for and been granted a water right to take water from the Columbia River. But two decades later, the water right remains held up in court, and KID is unable to legally take water from the Columbia.
KID customers are complaining that the limited amount of time they can water has left them with brown grass, McShane said.
However, the scheduling is about keeping landscaping alive, and getting the district and its customers through the drought season, he said.
The restrictions are in place through the end of the irrigation season. Early indications show a possible low snowpack again next year, limiting runoff that feeds the rivers. El Niño conditions also could lead to a drier and hotter winter in the Northwest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
KID is enforcing its water schedule, with many people caught watering off schedule saying they had not heard about restrictions, McShane said. Neighbors also are turning in neighbors.
“The guy who takes water out of sequence is not taking water from KID; he’s taking water from his neighbor,” McShane said.
For the first two violations of the watering schedule, people get warnings. Then, KID gets serious. On the third violation, a fee of $100 is charged and water is turned off for a week. On the fourth violation, another $100 is charged and water is shut off for the rest of the season.
To date, there have been no third violations.
But McShane has been heartened by the cooperation the district is receiving. It comes from individuals, like one hay farmer who cut his crop a week early to leave more water for others.
The Kennewick School District has agreed to stop watering for several days to allow other customers to use that water, he said. The school district has about 400 acres, or roughly the same land as 1,600 traditionally sized home lots.
Canyon Lakes Golf Club has stepped up, agreeing to turn off its water for several days and use water stored in the pond on its course.
The Columbia Irrigation District will allow KID to transfer some of KID’s water in its canals that otherwise KID could not recapture or reuse because of its location.
KID also is working with the Badger Mountain Irrigation District, which sold KID water in 2005, another low water year. An agreement is being finalized that could make a little more water available to KID customers.
It won’t be enough to end the water restrictions, but it could take “the edge off,” McShane said.
Homeowners may be tempted to turn to city water supplies for irrigation this year. But Kennewick and Richland lack the capacity to provide water to KID customers to irrigate lawns on top of providing drinking water and water for firefighting.
The possible irrigation use by KID customers alone could be greater than what Kennewick can provide for all city uses during a single day, Kennewick officials said this spring.
More than 16,200 KID customers are within the city of Kennewick’s boundaries, and more than 4,100 are within Richland.
KID continues to allow hand watering, micro-spray, soaker hoses and drip lines to be used to water trees, shrubs, perennials and gardens. The systems do not pull water from the canals at the same rate as underground sprinkler systems.
KID customers took to social media Wednesday to complain about the increased restrictions, including calling for reduced payments for reduced water.
KID says the assessment pays for the operation and maintenance of the irrigation system and the repayment of a federal loan to the district.
The district has to pay for the building of the KID infrastructure and its share of storage reservoirs in the Yakima River headwaters. KID does not meter water that is used as cities do.
This story was originally published July 8, 2015 at 2:15 PM with the headline "KID cuts watering time to 20 minutes per zone."