THE KID TODAY
Change in the Tri-Cities
The Kennewick Irrigation District (KID) is at a turning point in its development as both an institution and a service provider.
The KID was built to serve the agricultural community in the Tri-Cities area. Today, the majority of ratepayers live in residential developments, and the change from farmland to suburbs is expected to continue into the foreseeable future.
Change in the Kennewick Irrigation District
It takes very different economic and physical structures to serve water for crops versus lawns and gardens. The change is expensive and time consuming. It’s also inevitable. It will take years, but during that time, the KID will continue working to serve both farms and suburbs. On October 18, 2007, the KID entered into a franchise agreement with the City of Kennewick. This franchise agreement allows the KID to use city streets, alleys, bridges, highways, and other public places for the purpose of supplying water for irrigation.
As part of the transition, the Kennewick Irrigation District is reworking its business systems, including the introduction of a new business/customer service software package. The KID is also going through a leadership change, as four retirements will cost the district nearly 100 years of senior management experience in a year.
In the past, legal complexities prevented the KID from changing water allotments within the district. After years of negotiation, that has changed. There is now an application process for those who would like to add or eliminate a water allotment. The process is extensive and takes at least a year. There are eligibility requirements, and change in some cases is now possible.
The USBR and the Yakima Project
The Kennewick Irrigation District is one of several irrigation districts served by the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima Project. The Project extends 175 miles on each side of the Yakima River. Water comes from the river and is stored in seven reservoirs in and around the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. About 464,000 acres are irrigated with water from the Yakima Project.
The reservoirs are: Bumping Lake, Clear Lake, Cle Elum Lake, French Canyon, Kachess Lake, Keechelus Lake and Rimrock Lake. (A map of Yakima Project reservoirs is available here.) In addition to reservoirs, the Project includes two power plants, 30 pumping plants, 400 miles of canals and 1700 miles of lateral canals.
From Chandler on Down
The Kennewick Division is a combined irrigation and power development that includes the 12 megawatt Chandler Power Plant and Pump Station and over 20,200 acres of irrigable land within the 55,000 acre KID.
The Kennewick Irrigation District diverts water from the Yakima River at Prosser Dam. The water travels 11 miles down a canal along the river to Chandler. There a hydraulic pump sends it under the river and halfway up the side of the Horse Heaven Hills, to the head end of the main canal.
It takes 1.25 gallons of water to push a gallon up to the canal (not including the gallon being transported). Thus, only about 43% of the water diverted at Prosser makes it into the KID’s main canal. The rest is returned to the Yakima River at Chandler.
From the head end, the water begins a trip of more than 40 miles to the end of the canal in Hover where it empties into the Columbia River. Nearly 90 miles of transport facilities are needed to distribute the water throughout the district.