KENNEWICK, Wash. – The Kennewick Irrigation District said it “invoked its right to appeal to the relevant parties” after the Washington state Department of Ecology ordered them to curtail its water deliveries on October 3.
The district called the curtailment order “needlessly and overly broad” and said that it “jeopardized the long-term viability of water deliveries to our customers.”
In the Department of Ecology’s release on the restrictions from October 1, it said that its order would be an “unprecedented halt” to surface water use. Later in the release, it said it would notify water rights holders by mail “this week.”
“We know that restricting water diversions will impact communities across the Yakima Basin, but this is a necessary step to protect water for fish and senior water rights in the face of continued drought conditions,” Ria Berns, Ecology’s Water Resources program manager, said in the department’s release.
In the Kennewick Irrigation District’s release, it said that the Department of Ecology had the right to put restrictions on the water use because the Department is a “senior user” to the District.
However, the District said that by the time its staff met on October 3 to review the information provided by the Department, the District had to notify its customers, 26,000 accounts representing 70,000 people, about the change.
Notifying customers was increasingly difficult because two of the days before the deadline of October 6 were not business days, said the District.
The District added that water was still flowing into its canal system after October 6 because the Bureau of Reclamation was unable to begin the shutdown process until October 8, even though it was sent directions by the District to close by October 6.
“KID remains committed to working collaboratively with the Department of Ecology, the Bureau of Reclamation, and our Yakima Basin partners to address drought challenges moving forward,” wrote the District in its release.
The District said questions regarding the Department of Ecology’s order of the District’s shutdown process could be asked at (509)-586-9111 or customerservice@kid.org.
