Apr 1, 2025Proposed Washington budget contains funds to help complete irrigation project
The proposed 2025-27 Washington State Senate Capital Budget has allocated nearly $45 million in infrastructure funding that would help complete a portion of the EL 22.1 Surface Water Irrigation Project.
Part of the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, the project aims to deliver surface water from the Federal Columbia Basin Project to replace groundwater pumping in the Odessa Subarea, where decades of irrigation have depleted the aquifer.
The project will draw water from the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District’s East Low Canal, providing relief to farmers and communities north of I-90 and east of Moses Lake, Washington, in portions of Grant, Adams and Lincoln counties.
The EL 22.1 system, once operational, will irrigate approximately 16,000 acres of agricultural land and is expected to generate economic benefits, including job creation and agribusiness revenue, for communities in the Columbia Basin.
By replacing groundwater pumping with surface water irrigation, the project is also expected to conserve 52,080 megawatt-hours of renewable energy. Upon completion, it will remove 34 wells from pumping groundwater, saving 51,972 acre-feet (17 billion gallons) of water annually.
Central/eastern Washington grows 23% of the nation’s potatoes, and in 2023, the state produced 99.7 million cwt of potatoes — second only to Idaho.
