Weather delays canal repairs, irrigation start
BY RANDY BRACHT
QUINCY – Replacement of some of the concrete panels lining the West Canal near Ephrata has temporarily delayed the start of the 2025 irrigation season in the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District.
The turn-on date for water flow in the canal was initially anticipated for March 12, but has been pushed back one week to Wednesday, March 19, said QCBID secretary-manager Roger Sonnichsen.
Cold, inclement weather last month impeded what Sonnichsen called routine winter maintenance work.
He said completion of the project is now expected by this Friday, March 14. The work is being performed by Tommer Construction Co., Inc. under a bid award of $295,646 funded by the irrigation district.
Once irrigation water begins flowing in the West Canal, priming will continue on the district’s smaller canals and laterals through the first week in April, depending on weather, completion of repair projects, and demand for water deliveries, said Sonnichsen.
Telephone recorders to place water orders will be available for users beginning March 26 in all watermaster offices, he said. The service will be available on Saturdays and up to 11:30 a.m. on Sundays for the following Monday’s water order throughout the season, which typically ends in October.
After March 26, water users should contact their respective watermaster headquarters for current information and schedules.
The Quincy-based district is one of three irrigation districts which receive water pumped from the Columbia River between Grand Coulee and Pasco to serve about 671,000 acres within the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Project.
Along with irrigating thousands of acres of farm ground in central Washington, the water also serves hydroelectric projects, cities, and industries and has created reservoirs and wetlands which provide numerous outdoor recreation opportunities for people and ecological benefits for a diversity of wildlife.
