More time asked for public to study $5B water plan

By David Lester

Yakima Herald-Republic April 25, 2011

A request for public comment on a major water-supply and environmental improvement plan is incomplete and doesn't give the public enough time to review the $5 billion proposal, a coalition of conservation groups contends.

But the request, in a recent letter to the regional Bureau of Reclamation, isn't likely to get far. Wendy Christensen, technical projects program manager for the agency in Yakima, said the groups' suggestions are what the upcoming public comment period, known as scoping, is all about.

Two public meetings are coming up -- May 3 in Ellensburg and May 5 in Yakima -- for residents to suggest what should be included in a draft environmental impact study on adding new water storage, fish ladders at basin dams, fish habitat, new watershed protections, water conservation, aquifer storage and water banking.

But the 11 groups said information released about the upcoming public comment failed to mention a study about drawing Columbia River water to meet future water needs.

The interbasin transfer is proposed to be studied should new storage at Bumping Lake and Wymer, north of Yakima, not meet water needs.

Tom Brucker, a representative of the Seattle-based North Cascades Conservation Council, said the public needs more time to review the plan.

"This is a huge project and they are giving us a few weeks to get our comments in," he said in a telephone interview. "The 11 organizations have a lot to say about this."

The proposed plan grew out of a five-year federal study that concluded the proposed Black Rock reservoir, east of Yakima, provided too little benefit in relation to its nearly $5 billion construction cost.

Reclamation and state Department of Ecology officials organized the group of basin water interests to devise a plan to meet the needs of farmers, fish and wildlife and communities. The one conservation group that participated and helped craft the proposal was American Rivers, a national organization with offices in Seattle.

In addition to Brucker's group, the other organizations asking for more time are the Endangered Species Coalition, Kittitas Audubon Society, Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society, Seattle Audubon Society, Sierra Club, The Mountaineers, Washington Wilderness Coalition, Western Lands Project, Western Watersheds Project and Wild Fish Conservancy.