Private Sector Water Funding

Bringing water resources into the 21st century will take capital from the private sector according to Darryll Olsen, Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association Board Representative. Two water projects affecting Eastern Washington need private sector capital and economic prudence.

OLSEN: There needs to be a target on the measures that'll be the most effective and that would be conservation measures for some of the districts like the Wapato Irrigation Project and the Kittias Reclamation Project, the means to do that is to move directly with private sector capital and share the costs directly with the irrigators involved in the Basin and then also turn to the economic power of the Columbia River.

And that means issuing some new water rights and new permits.

OLSEN: And attaching to them fees that would be able to transfer over to the Yakima Basin for those projects. And combined we estimate there's roughly $600-million dollars that could be accumulated, present value of that, in order to directly fund projects there.

But again, Olsen says it's important to move into the 21st century.

OLSEN: I call this the cultural problem. It's the politest way I can say it. There's a cultural problem here is that we've got folks that are locked into the 20th century water resource development model which is public sector financing either the bureau or the district slugs along and eventually gets something done or as in the 21st century, private sector capital is going to be needed and private sector initiative.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.