The Yakima Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan
The Yakima River basin is located in south-central Washington. It is bounded on the west by the Cascade Range, on the north by the Wenatchee Mountains, on the east by the Columbia River drainage, and on the south by the Horse Heaven Hills. It encompasses about 6,155 square miles and includes portions of Benton, Kittitas, Klickitat, and Yakima Counties.
Washington's longest in-state river, the Yakima River, originates at Keechelus Lake and descends 2,100 feet to meet the Columbia near Kennewick after winding through 214 miles of alpine forest, fertile valley farmlands and shrub steppe habitat. Snowpack in the Cascade Range feeds the river, supporting agriculture, streamflows, and groundwater resources. The river and its tributaries are home to important fish spawning, rearing, and ocean migration as part of the greater Columbia River watershed.
The Yakima Basin’s current water supply does not meet instream demands for fish and wildlife and the out-of-stream needs of irrigation and municipal supply.
As communities grow and climate change reduces supply by shrinking the annual snow-pack, municipal and agricultural water supply deficiencies are becoming more pronounced.
As streamflows decline, so do fish populations. Some species, like Yakima Basin sockeye that once thrived as the second largest population of sockeye in the continental US, were completely extirpated within the basin.
The Workgroup
Decades of water shortages, legal conflict and failed planning efforts prompted once adversaries to recognize they could best move forward by working together. Led by the Yakama Nation and the Roza Irrigation District, these farm, tribal, local and environmental interests were brought together in 2009, by Ecology and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to hammer out a unified approach to water management in the Yakima River Basin. Each pledged to respect consensus based decision-making and recognized a crucial need for give and take. Success not equally found when water decisions are made in a courtroom.
The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan
The result of their work, The Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan, is a consensus-based effort to assure sustainable water supplies for families, farms and fish in the Yakima River Basin over the next 30 years.
The plan is composed of seven elements:
- Reservoir Fish Passage - Passage for local and sea-going fish at Yakima Basin dams.
- Structural and Operational Changes - Changes in how current water storage and delivery facilities are operated.
- Enhanced Water Conservation - Agricultural and municipal water conservation.
- Habitat/Watershed Protection & Enhancement - Taking care of our watersheds.
- Groundwater Storage - Storing water in aquifers.
- Surface Water Storage - Reservoir storage
- Market Reallocation - Water banks and water markets.
Phased Implementation
The Integrated Plan will be implemented in three ten-year phases. The first or "initial development phase" is currently underway and consists of projects from each of the Plan's seven elements.
Stuctural and Operational Changes
Initial Development Phase Projects include:
- Cle Elum Pool Raise - Raising Cle Elum Reservoir's pool by three feet will add an14,600 acre-feet of capacity.
- Kittitas Reclamation District Upper Yakima System Storage - Many small reservoirs would be used to store water for more efficient use in the upper basin.
Surface Water Storage
The Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant (KDRPP) is the only surface water storage project slated for the Integrated Plan's Initial Development Phase. A pumping plant would draw currently unavailable water from below the Kachess Dam spillway for use during droughts.
A new off-channel reservoir between Ellensburg and Yakima at Wymer and expansion of Bumping Reservoir are under examination for future phases.
Groundwater Storage
Storing water underground by pumping it into aquifers (aquifer storage and recovery or ASR) or letting it percolate into aquifers from ponds and canals (managed aquifer recharge or MAR) plays an important role in the Plan's storage strategy.
Inititial Development Phase projects include:
- Yakima City Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR)
- Toppenish Fan Aquifer Recharge
- Selah Moxee Irrigation District MAR Feasibility Study
- Yakima Basin Aquifer Geochemistry Evaluation (Basin Wide)
- Kittitas Reclamation District Yakima Basin ASR Feasibility Study (Basin Wide)
Fish Passage
Construction of fish passage is underway at Cle Elum Dam and slated for Tieton Dam (Rimrock) and Clear Creek Dam during the Integrated Plan's first decade. Fish passage construction for Bumping, Keechelus, and Kachess dams is scheduled for later phases of the Integrated Plan.
Water Marketing
Water right transfers through water markets and water banks provide an important tool to allow for new uses until additional water is made available through storage and conservation.. Water banking and marketing allow water rights to be exchanged between willing buyers and sellers. These tools are particularly important during drought and water-short years.
Kittitas Reclamation District and Trout Unlimited are working on a basin wide Water Market Structure and Strategic Development Plan. Existing water banks are identified on the map.
Habitat Enhancement
Over 40 habitat projects have been completed or are underway in the Integrated Plan's first phase. These projects aim to improve the overall natural functions of the watershed that also enhance water supplies for fish & wildlife, flood control and even water availability both instream and out-of-stream.
Agricultural and Municipal Conservation
Two dozen conservation projects have been completed or are underway in the Initial Development Phase. The Integrated Plan is projected to conserve 170,000 ac-ft of water. That's equivalent to adding another Keechelus Reservoir.