Yakima Basin Water Right Applications & FSA Deadlines

Growers in the Yakima Basin have experienced irrigation water rationing several times over the past 20 years. In 1999 the Department of Ecology put an administrative hold on requests for new groundwater permits in Kittitas, Yakima and parts of Benton County due to uncertainty about the legal availability of water. A study was launched at that time by the DOE, USGS, USBR, and the Yakima Nation to understand the interaction between groundwater and surface water, and to develop a hydraulic model to describe what impact new groundwater pumping would have at various times of the year in the basin. Now that the study is complete letters have been sent to roughly 116 applicants for new ground and surface water permits in the Wide Hollow and Moxee sub-basins letting them know their requests will be among the first considered. The DOE asks that applicants consider a number of options to help the agency in making permit decisions about their proposed water use in the context of study results.

Northwest Ag’s Greg Martin would like to remind producers of quickly approaching USDA Farm Service Agency deadlines.

MARTIN: Enrollment sign-up for the 2012 Direct and Counter-Cyclical Program as well as the 2012 Average Crop Revenue Election Program ends on June 1. That is also the final day to return any DCP contracts that are out for signature. 2012 crop acreage must be reported to FSA by June 30 to avoid late filing fees.

For more information please contact your local county Farm Service Agency office.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.