09/26/08 Columbia River water developments

Washington Ag September 26, 2008 The Washington Department of Ecology has issued the final decisions that pave the way for more water to be made available from the Columbia River. That includes 30-thousand acre feet of water from Lake Roosevelt to be delivered to the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District which will hydrate up to 10-thousand acres of farmland now relying on groundwater from the declining Odessa aquifer for irrigation. Ecology's "reports of examination" issued Thursday triggers a formal 30-day appeal period. Ecology Director Jay Manning also announced that Derek Sandison will lead the department's new Office of the Columbia River headquartered in Wenatchee and report directly to Manning. Enrollment is up this fall in the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University. Dean Dan Bernardo says they are still trying to get the exact number of students. Bernardo: "We believe that our agriculture enrollment is up as well based at least upon the enrollment in our freshman courses and those courses in w which transfer students would likely enroll. So, we are pretty positive about that." Bernardo says new Associate Dean of Academic Programs Kim Kidwell is very, very aggressive in recruiting students for agriculture. I'm Bob Hoff.