Domestic wells going dry in Odess Sub-area too

Washington Ag Today October 21, 2009 The declining water table in the Odessa Sub-area aquifer of eastern Washington is affecting more than deep well irrigation. State Senator Mark Schoesler, who represents the area, told the Spokane Ag Bureau last week domestic wells are having problems too. In fact one of his constituents organized a meeting on the issue.

Schoesler: “We had a leader in the community just re-drill his well 820 feet deep just west of Lind for domestic water. Eight hundred twenty feet of drilling is pretty pricey. I said you are at the point that if you didn’t have your farm shop there you might be better off just buying another place than drilling that well. That is a scary thought.”

Of course the area with problems was supposed to be getting Columbia Basin Project water but that second half of the project was never completed. Schoesler said there have been some incremental steps like getting water into Pot Holes and siphons under Interstate 90 west of the Adams County line. But there are concerns in the southern Columbia Basin, mainly Franklin County.

Schoesler: “They are worried if we expand to relieve the pressure without canal improvements they could have a choke point that could reduce their water during the key growing seasons in late July and August and hurt their crops. So they have to be taken care of.”

The Republican Senator said the biggest frustration right now is how slow the wheels of Congress and federal agencies can move to get the water there.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.