10/22/07 BuRec hosting meetings on Odessa Subarea study

Washington Ag October 22, 2007 An update on the appraisal analysis completed for the Odessa Subarea Special Study will be given at two meetings tomorrow at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake by the Bureau of Reclamation. William Gray, Reclamation Assistant Area Manager, encourages people to attend. Gray: "There are several options of how you can provide water out to the Odessa Subarea, the deep wells. And there are also several options for how you are going to get water out of the Columbia River when it doesn't interfere with ESA target flows. We'd like some input back from people on that. As they review this they could maybe get back to us or follow up later with calls or visits." The appraisal analyses verified the technical feasibility of the alternatives, identified potential environmental and social issues, and developed preliminary cost estimates for comparison purposes. After considering public comment, Reclamation will select alternatives that will be the focus of more comprehensive feasibility-level analyses beginning in 2008. Tomorrow's meetings are at the ATEC building at Big Bend Community College. The first is at 1:00 p.m. and the second, a repeat including the same information, is at 6:00 p.m. I'm Bob Hoff.