Columbia Basin Project Pt 2
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. We told you yesterday about a campaign, in the form of a short film, to educate Washingtonians about the importance of the Columbia Basin Project.Executive Director, Vicky Scharlau says the 75-plus-year old project is easy to overlook ...
VICKY SCHARLAU ... "It's either taken for granted or completely forgotten that our economy is driven by this irrigation water that comes from behind Grand Coulee Dam."
Scharlau says the film will attempt to show the many ways the project impacts us ...
VICKY SCHARLAU ... "From our perspective in Eastern Washington, because we're closer to it physically and we can see it on a daily basis when we drive by irrigation canals and the rivers and the dams and power structures, it's the foundation for our livelihood and our quality of life and, honestly, it helps provide a more secure tomorrow just because of the economic activity that it generates."
Scharlau says in the end ...
VICKY SCHARLAU ... "Well, the end game would be to see water on all 1,029,000 acres because there's only water on three-quarters of it. So, the infrastructure and care and feeding of all the current system has to continue, but we're also looking to complete the whole project for that last 250,000, give or take, acres to put water on to that arid desert land."
The League is nearing completion of the short documentary on the Columbia Basin Project ... and could use some help.
For more information on the project, just go to the Columbia Basin Development League website at CBDL dot ORG.