- Reclamation
- Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region
- Environmental Documents
- Odessa Subarea Special Study Environmental Impact Statement
Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program
The Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program was developed in response to the Odessa final environmental impact statement—to rescue 87,000 acres of productive, agricultural land by suspending existing private groundwater rights and substituting Columbia Basin Project irrigation service from surface water. The change involves applying East Columbia Basin Irrigation District conserved water to 7,700 acres, Lake Roosevelt incremental storage release water to 10,000 acres (the initial 30,000 acre-feet), and the Odessa Subarea Special Study water to 70,000 acres.
The purpose of the OGWRP is to 1) provide surface water from the CBP to replace ground water from declining irrigation wells in the Odessa Subarea, 2) reduce the risk of economic loss to the region’s agriculture sector who rely on declining and/or failing groundwater wells, and 3) provide relief to the declining water levels in the Odessa Subarea aquifer.
The OGWRP has two, large construction elements: 1) expansion and improvement of the East Low Canal to increase delivery capacity, and 2) construction of separate pumping plants and pipeline distribution systems to deliver CBP water to farms that rely on the aquifer.
Reclamation, ECBID, Washington State Department of Ecology, and the OGWRP landowners are working together to develop pumping plants and pipeline networks to deliver the water from the ELC to groundwater-irrigated land in the Odessa Subarea.
Contact
Jennifer Hickenbottom
509-573-8043
jhickenbottom@usbr.gov
Bureau of Reclamation
Columbia Cascades Area Office
1917 Marsh Road
Yakima, WA 98901-2058
