Funds allow pipeline project to advance

ODESSA — The state capital budget approved earlier this month includes $5.5 million in funding for the EL 22.1 pipeline project within the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program.

The pipeline project will use surface water from the Upper Columbia River, pumped into the East Low Canal, to offset ground water traditionally pumped out of the Odessa aquifer.

The EL 22.1 pipeline project would supply water to about 16,000 acres of irrigated land east of Moses Lake and north of Interstate 90. It includes new canal infrastructure, a large-scale pump station, booster pump stations and approximately 12 miles of large-diameter pipeline.

The water would flow from the East Low Canal into the Columbia Basin Project irrigation system, which includes areas of Grant, western Adams and Franklin Counties.

The funds are expected to be matched by the EL 22.1 Landowner Association and the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, officials said, noting grant moneys are also being sought through the National Resources Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Irrigation officials said that about 60% of the project engineering has been completed and that it meats the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation requirements.