Columbia-Snake Irrigators Tour seeks concensus on conserved water use
Farm and Ranch July 31, 2009 On August 14th the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association is hosting a tour for state lawmakers, Ecology officials, environmentalists and other interested parties. Association Board Representative Darryll Olsen says they will be presenting their Conservation Operation and Maintenance Program to participants. Olsen: “And this is a program that would allow us to use our annual conservation savings from things like irrigation scheduling and monitoring and be able to take those savings and apply them to new irrigated ground.“ Olsen says that new ground could total up to 30-thousand acres in five years. Olsen: “Ecology is interested in this program in that it could provide a significant portion of the water for the Odessa area and be able to transfer conserved O & M water up there as opposed to having to find other sources that may be more expensive and take more time to find.” Only half of the conserved water would be used for irrigation, half would stay in the river system. Olsen says what the Columbia-Snake Irrigators Association is looking for from the tour is consent to just move ahead with the program as part of the agreement that it has with Ecology under the Columbia River Water Management legislation. He says there would be no cost to the state, but tax revenue would be generated, and the program could be implemented next year. That’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I’m Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
