Columbia Basin Project gains momentum

RITZVILLE – It all started a hundred years ago.

Back then, government officials and others saw great potential in the high desert lands of Adams County and surrounding areas.

Originally, the Columbia Basin Project — with Grand Coulee Dam as its centerpiece — was designed to provide irrigation water to over a million acres of land in the central part of Washington State, including the counties of Adams, Douglas, Franklin, Stevens, Okanogan, Grant, Lincoln and Walla Walla.

But the project stalled and remains unfinished.

Columbia Basin Sustainable Water Coalition Excutive Director Michele Kiesz w...