Today we begin a series of conversations on "Our Northwest Water." Water may not receive a lot of attention, it is cheap and always there when you turn on the faucet. But some communities in Eastern Washington are facing water shortages. What does this mean for you and your family? In part one of our series Sueann Ramella got the view from a water expert.

When we think of the Northwest images of lush rainforests and abundant farmland come to mind. We rarely think of the words drought or desert. Could these words become more prevalent in our everyday language as our climate changes, or we use up our water resources? Michael Barber is the Director of the Washington Water Resource Center at WSU. I began by asking Dr. Barber to outline some of the major water issues facing the NW and in a nutshell…

Barber: "We have a finite amount of water. We need water. We need it for growth. People are coming. Our cities are expanding. Most places have population projections that are still trending upward. There are huge issues related to how much water is needed for salmon and we still get a good portion of our GDP from agricultural sources."

In short competition for our resources comes from fish, farms and towns, and there's something else to consider.

Barber: "When you superimpose the problems associated with climate change, where we have perhaps more water in the winter but less water in the summer, when we all need it, we are setting ourselves up for some very tough years."

Ramella: "And what are some proposals in Washington State that will help in tough years?"

Barber: "Well, "Blackrock Reservoir" is a proposal being evaluated by the U.S. Beurau of Reclamation, would take water out of the Columbia River during winter time, or high flow periods, pump it up into an off-channel reservoir, off-channel means its not on an existing stream, it's on a kind of dry gulch, and then they would release it for irrigation purposes in the Yakima Valley, and the Yakima instigators would not take their water out hte Yakima River. So the river flows would be higher for salmon."

Ramella: "And how would that guarantee water throughout the year?"

Barber: "We have water during the peak snow melt. In general we don't have a shortage in March or April. We have our shortages in July, August, and September. Their plan would be to take that water when it wasn't needed in the Columbia, pump it up over a hill into a different watershed. While it's technically feasible to do that, the real impediment is going to be cost."

Ramella: "Now, in Central Washington, agriculture needs a lot of water there, and the plan was to get it from lake rosevelt, instead they're drawing water from the Odessa Aquifer. Dr. Barbur, tell us what's going on there now."

Barber: "In that case they're actually running out of water. They're pulling the water table down 10, 12, 15 feet a year, in some places, because they are orrigionally, when the water rights were issued, thought that they were going to build an extension to the Central Valley Project, what was called the East High Canal, which takes water from Lake Roosevelt and Banks Lake, and delivers it to the central part of the state now for irrigation, but the federal government canceled the East High Canal 50/60 years ago, because they decided at the time that it wasn't cost effective."

Ramella: "Well, there's a lot to consider when it comes to cost, especially when you add an industry, revenue generated by agriculture, fish and recreation, and not to mention growing communities. Thank you Dr. Barbur. next week we'll ask Michael Barbur about the impact of Central Washington agriculture on the Columbia Basin water supply."

Continue the conversation online and submit water questions at Our Northwest

Copyright 2008 Northwest Public Radio

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