Governor signs legislation to deliver water for farms,
cities and salmon in Eastern Washington.
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On March 20, 2008, Governor Chris
Gregoire signed legislation that will release the largest
delivery of new water to towns and farms in the Columbia
Basin, and for endangered salmon, in three decades.
Historic partnership agreements with the Confederated Tribes of the
Colville Indian Reservation and the Spokane Tribe will allow
up to 82,500 acre feet of water to be withdrawn from Lake
Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam beginning in 2008 and up
to 132,000 acre feet of water in drought years.
Colville Agreement (1.7MB pdf)
Spokane Agreement (615KB pdf)
More
Information
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News Release on the governor's signing
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News Release on the agreements
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News Release on Spokane Tribe signing
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Map - Water
Needs in the Columbia Basin
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Focus Sheet - Delivering water for Eastern
Washington irrigators, communities and endangered salmon
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Frequently Asked Questions - Tribal-State agreement
to deliver water from Lake Roosevelt to farms, towns and
salmon in Eastern Washington
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Incremental Storage Releases at Lake Roosevelt
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will work together on the
incremental storage releases at Lake Roosevelt which will
draw down the lake by an additional foot in normal water
years and 1.8 feet during drought years. The storage release will free up
water to benefit municipal/industrial supply, the
Odessa Subarea interruptible water right holders and
instream flows. In non-drought years, 30,000 acre-feet will
go to the Odessa Subarea, 25,000 acre-feet to
municipal/industrial needs, and 27,500 acre-feet to augment
instream flows (82,500 total). An additional 50,000
acre-feet will be released during drought years with 33,000
acre-feet of that release providing relief for interruptible
water right holders and 17,000 acre-feet supplementing
instream flows. |
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Supplemental EIS
On August 29, 2008, the Washington Department of Ecology
(Ecology) released a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS).
The SEIS addresses the time and manner in which additional water
will be released from Lake Roosevelt to enhance stream flows and to
provide water to municipalities, irrigators in the Odessa Subarea,
and interruptible water right holders. The SEIS supplements the
Final
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Columbia River
Management Plan
issued by Ecology in February 2007. The SEIS provides a more
thorough evaluation of impacts associated with additional releases
of stored water from Lake Roosevelt than was presented in the
Programmatic EIS. The public comment period was from May 15, 2008 to
June 30, 2008. Ecology considered comments submitted by the public
before issuing the final SEIS.
Download the Final Supplemental EIS:
By Chapter:
Supporting Environmental Studies for the Draft Supplemental EIS
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Scoping Notice
A timeline for this environmental review is shown below. |
