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Working Together to Provide Water for All |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: by Charles Henry Thomas |
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Just a few years ago, another Old West water war was brewing.
As the Year 2000 approached, legal skirmishes broke out in Washington’s Methow Valley and along Oregon’s Klamath River.
The conflict threatened to spread to Walla Walla River Basin in southeastern Washington unless local residents took action. Anxious to avoid the court room, they formed the Walla Walla Watershed Alliance to decide who gets water and when.
The Alliance consists of people from environmental groups, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, agriculture, business, local government and Walla Walla Community College. Their goal is to provide enough water for fish runs, crops, livestock, factories and people.
Armed with $1 million from Washington’s state Legislature and another $2.3 million in federal funds garnered by Congressman George Nethercutt (R) and Sen. Patty Murray (D) , the Alliance set about removing in-stream fish barriers, screening irrigation ditches near intakes and outfalls to the rivers, developing streamside buffers, improving farming practices, and recharging shallow aquifers. It helped the City of Walla Walla drill a series of deep wells so Mill Creek could flow during dry summer and fall months while providing water for its thirsty residents.
They knew absent an agreement, salmon, steelhead and bull trout would be listed as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and that a federal listing would paralyze the region for years to come. The legal wrangling would cost millions.
Lewis and Clark Explored the Walla Walla
For centuries, the Walla Walla — which has been interpreted to mean “many small waters” by Native Americans — and its tributaries roared out of the Blue Mountains in the spring when the snow melted, fanned out over the valleys and flooded the lowlands. From the air, it looked like the ancient delta of Africa’s Nile River.
That’s the way it was when Lewis and Clark explored the Walla Walla on their return trip to St. Louis in the early spring of 1806. However, as far back as 1870, settlers began blocking the river and diverting its water for irrigation.
Today, the drainage is well developed and covered with orchards of Fuji apples, fields of Walla Walla sweet onions, rows of world-class wine grape vineyards, rolling hills of golden grain, and pastures filled with livestock. The only thing in short supply in this land of plenty is water, the most important ingredient of all.
Porous Ground Needs Flood Waters
Geologically, the porous alluvial sand and gravels allowed the flood water to seep through the top soil and collect into the shallow aquifers. Historically, streams would disappear and then reappear as natural springs feeding the Walla Walla River system during dry summer and fall months.
To avoid springtime flooding, the river was channeled allowing the swollen streams to simply pass water through the valley quickly and empty its volumes into the Columbia River.
The braided flood plains were turned into orchards and pastures. Water to nourish crops and livestock was stored in the mountains and then slowly released into a network of irrigation ditches. Water in the irrigation system may have been sufficient to recharge the groundwater system, but over the years as wells were drilled, the water table sank and the springs dried up.
Rainfall is sparse in the lower arid reaches of the basin where the Walla Walla joins the Columbia — an average of eight inches a year. However, in the Blue Mountains rain and snowfall is abundant ranging from 40 to 60 inches annually.
That’s the background, but the different in Walla Walla is the local people’s will to solve the problem together.
First, the Umatilla Tribe and irrigators realized they were in a no-win situation if they drew a line in the sand and hired an army of lawyers to fight it out in court. The battle would be lengthy and costly. Meanwhile, more fish runs would be depleted.
Armed With Umatilla River Success
Second, the Tribe was successfully working on cooperative projects on the Umatilla River just over the hills from Walla Walla and spring Chinook were returning to the river after a 70-year absence.
Third, Walla Walla is home to Nelson Irrigation Corp., a cutting-edge company recognized for its innovative water-conserving lawn and agriculture sprinkler systems. The company had water conservation technology and was committed to using its knowledge and techniques in finding solutions to the water problems. For his efforts Bob Rupar, vice president of marketing for Nelson and president of the Alliance, was awarded the Irrigation Association’s 2003 Industry Achievement Award.
Finally, apple growers like Ron Brown in neighboring Milton-Freewater, Oregon, reached out to the Umatilla Tribe and formed partnerships.
While all of the elements for success are in place, the Alliance still has to weave its way through the maze of local, state and federal regulations and find funds to continue its work. No doubt it will, because the spirit of cooperation and the will to succeed evident in Walla Walla is contagious. It is an example for us all.
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