Odessa Aquifer and DOR Pt 1
I'm Bob Larson. Good news for the water supply in the Columbia Basin, and more specifically the Odessa Subarea.At a hearing last week, the Bureau of Reclamation gave its firm commitment the federal government will ensure the small farming communities within that region are equipped with the surface water they need.
U.S Representative Dan Newhouse applauded the Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program ...
NEWHOUSE ... "It's a targeted plan within the Columbia Basin, which is in Central Washington in my district. Its goal was to replace depleted ground water supplies."
He says "to much, too fast" pretty much sums it up ...
NEWHOUSE ... "The sub-area groundwater, it's being drawn at a rate that is well beyond the aquifer's capacity to recharge. Aquifers in the sub-area, as a result, quickly declining. The groundwater is virtually depleted to such an extent that wells are as deep as 24-hundred feet today. Water pumped, as you know, from those depths is hot and has dangerously high sodium concentrations."
Newhouse says it impacts everyone in the region ...
NEWHOUSE ... "Municipal, agricultural, commercial, industrial, and domestic supplies as well as the quality levels are so compromised that this is most certainly and clearly at a crisis level."
He says the Bureau committed $7.1-million for the Columbia Basin Project, with $2-million of that specifically for the Odessa aquifer.
The Odessa Ground Water Replacement Program is a targeted plan within the Columbia Basin Project created to deliver surface water to the Odessa Subarea to replace depleted
groundwater supplies.
Tune in tomorrow for more.