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Frequently Asked Questions

Rates for the current irrigation season can be found here.

There is nothing that you need to do to close your account with KID. Once the sale is final and the closing documents are processed with the Benton County Assessor’s office, KID will get notified from the Assessor that there is a new owner of the property. At that time we will finalize your account and create a new account with the new owner’s information. If you automatic bill pay with your bank, we recommend checking with them to ensure that payment has been cancelled going forward.

Yes, KID delivers raw Yakima River water. We recommend that customers install a filter on their private system.

Please reach out to a landscaping professional, as each situation would be reviewed on a case by case basis.

For a list of opportunities we are currently offering, please visit our employment page here.

Private individuals or companies are not permitted to access the canal Right of Way (ROW) or use the canal access roads to access their property or perform work without a temporary access permit. Please contact KID Engineering at 509.586.6012 for more details.

For information regarding your pressure or flow rate, please contact our Engineering Department at 509.586.6012, menu option 3.

Please see information regarding subdivision of land here.

Please see information regarding easements here or call our Engineering Department at 509.586.6012 menu option 3.

Blue | Irrigation service is available and ready for use.

Yellow | Irrigation service is currently in standby. Standby means irrigation service is not yet available for your area or is off for the season. Our map is on standby all winter.

Red | Irrigation service is currently in an outage. An outage means that an issue was reported. In order to assess and/or repair the issue, service to the area needed to be turned off.

Purple | Irrigation service is currently being tested. Prior to the irrigation season, we are able to pressure test certain areas to prevent possible in-season issues.

A main line is the primary or “main” distribution pipe in KID’s system. It is the pipe that goes from our pump station to the KID irrigation service on your property. Mainline breaks are our highest priority as they tend to affect large areas.

Branching off a KID mainline or distribution pipe are smaller pipes we refer to as service lines. Service lines typically end with a KID valve on the customers’ property, either above ground or below grade in an irrigation box. These valves indicate the division point between what is owned by KID and what the customers’ private sprinklers system is. These valves are often susceptible to freeze damage if not properly winterized. If water becomes trapped inside the valves, it will freeze and expand causing the valves to crack or split.

Irrigation pumps are used to pressurize the irrigation water to your sprinklers and are the heart of most irrigation systems. Typically, maintenance or pump repair may include lubricating or changing bearings, unplugging the pump suction, or replacing seals to ensure water tightness.

An irrigation system in a private line area (PLA) is not owned or operated by KID, instead it is maintained by the homeowner(s) themselves. KID simply delivers the water to its access point. If an issue is reported in a PLA, it is the responsibility of the homeowners to have it resolved, either through an outside contractor or themselves. For more information on PLA’s, please see page 7, “So, You Live in a Private Line Area” in our homeowners magazine.

Operational testing reduces possible future service interruptions by helping us determine where maintenance activities are needed after the winter season and before water is regularly available for your system.

We conduct operational testing on certain systems where water is available, such as a pond. Even then, due to the complexity of some systems, some areas cannot be tested ahead of time.

The short answer? No!

To explain, canals are specifically designed to move water to homes, farms and businesses for irrigation and although they look like an inviting place to
swim or play, the water can be quite hazardous. Swift undercurrents and turbulence can also drag you under and keep you there, even if you are
an excellent swimmer.

The surface of the water may look calm but the speed of the current can vary depending on the location, sometimes reaching up to 3 miles per
hour, or 4.5 feet per second. As a public safety example in 2012, a child’s shoe was dropped into the canal to provide a visual of how fast the water
travels. In 2 minutes, the shoe traveled 540 feet and within 5 minutes, it was about a quarter mile away from where it was dropped!

Debris can also collect in a canal, unseen in the dark water. Examples include: Weeds, branches, tires, chunks of metal and yes, even cars!

The best way to be safe from canals is to stay away. It’s not only dangerous for children; it’s hazardous for everyone, including your pets.

Stay out.

Irrigation water is raw river water that may contain harmful microbial contaminants. Drinking and/or playing in could pose a risk to you and your pet’s health!

If you see someone fall into a canal, do not attempt to rescue them yourself. Algae can build up along the walls of a canal, making it extremely slippery and hard to climb out. Instead, call 911 immediately and report your location.

The following frequently asked questions came out of the 2015 drought and will answer many questions for the 2024 irrigation season.

The number in the box refers to the last digit of your property address – 20 minutes a zone –

Use of high efficiency drip or micro-spray systems, or use of hand watering or a sprinkler attached to a hose to water backyard vegetable gardens or perennials is permitted outside of the scheduled times.

 

Morning

Evening

Sunday

1, 5

0, 4

Monday

3, 7, 8

6, 9

Tuesday

1, 5

0, 2

Wednesday

3, 7

4, 6, 9

Thursday

5, 8

0, 2

Friday

1, 3

4, 6

Saturday

7, 8

2, 9

Certain areas such as Elliot Lake, Gage, PSA 54 & PSA 178 were not on the watering schedule because their water comes from a different source. Additionally, some homes within the District’s boundaries do not receive irrigation water from K.I.D. and may be using city water, while other residents elected to supplement their irrigation days with city water.

With over 23,000 unmetered customer accounts, usage is not evenly distributed on an even and odd schedule. The schedule was developed using data on customer usage by address. The canals hold an extremely large volume of water creating challenges with an even and odd schedule. If enough water is not used the canal can spill over; likewise if too much water is used the canals will run dry and it can take several days to refill. Customers on those days would not receive water.

Because there are more parcels with addresses ending with certain numbers and with other numbers, watering times were arranged with the more and less popular address numbers staggered. This schedule allowed the canal to fill during the times in which less parcels were being watered and the canal to drain during the times more parcels were being watered.

 If the undetermined property is adjacent to the owner’s house, use the schedule for the house
for both. If the property locations do not reside next to each other, contact our engineering team and a
schedule will be assigned to the “undetermined” address.

 The schedule was developed using data collected on usage to balance the demands on the canal system. K.I.D. was not able to adjust the schedule during 2015 but tested an alternative schedule for future low-water years.

Should it be necessary to use a schedule with both AM and PM watering in 2016, there are options for finding help with setting times on sprinkler systems. Some K.I.D. customers with this concern had success contacting a landscaper or irrigation supply company to provide assistance with their timer. Others had success using the internet to locate “How To” videos on setting the timer for many different brands. It is helpful to have your model number available.

The Red Mountain project was already completed when the drought news was announced. The water being used to serve Red Mountain is recalibrated water from areas no longer using their allotted water for such reasons as changes in land use or hard surfaces such as streets. Because water allotted to the District must be put to beneficial use or permanently relinquished to the State, water identified as unused in the recalibration process had to be applied to other land that would put it to beneficial use in a timely manner. The District maintains a list of requests for new allocations, and when recalibration of streets in the District was completed, allocations were granted to properties on that list, in this case, the Red Mountain properties. Without granting those allocations, the water would have been surrendered and lost to the state.

Additionally, Red Mountain customers’ allotments are just 1.5 acre feet of water as compared to the 3.5 acre feet allotted to our urban customers. This benefits the whole District in a drought year because the other 2 acre feet of water are held as trust water to be accessed by the whole District during droughts. In 2015, K.I.D. removed this water out of trust and used it to serve all customers.

Also, water for Red Mountain is turned out of the Yakima River downstream of the Chandler Pumps turnout that serves the rest of the District. The amount of water available to the District in a drought year at the Chandler turnout is not impacted by the draw for Red Mountain.

 No. The maximum number of acres (20,201) to which the K.I.D. can apply water does not change, so while it may seem that the number of acres being watered has been increased by new development, that is only because the corresponding acres no longer being watered are less obvious to an observer. Water allocations for new developments are either historic allocations that stay with the parcel regardless of change in land use from agricultural to residential, or allotments granted in direct proportion to allotments given up by other parcels or put to beneficial use though recalibration of hard surfaces such as streets. K.I.D. cannot remove a parcel’s allocation if the land use changes from agricultural to residential; those areas retain a vested right to an equitable share of whatever water was available to the District in a
particular year, which could be beneficially used on a property.

 During 2015 K.I.D. allowed customers to use low demand devices, such as micro spray, soaker hoses, and drip lines to water gardens and perennials at will. A hose and sprinkler were also acceptable for this purpose. However, please note that watering of lawns off schedule is not allowed by any means. Low demand (high efficiency) devices were allowed because they cause much less drain on the canal system than do underground sprinkler systems.

 These customers should contact our engineering department to be assigned a watering schedule based on your specific address and lot number.

 These customers should contact our engineering department to be assigned a watering schedule.

 The time allotted to each customer may be split up throughout your allotted days/times to allow maximum absorption but is not to exceed the total allotted time.

 In 2015, the District allowed newly laid sod and reseeded lawns to be watered according to the guidelines set for trees, shrubs, gardens and perennials: New sod and reseeded lawns may be watered using high efficiency and low demand systems, such as micro spray, drip line, hose and sprinkler, and soaker hoses, as needed. Please note, watering the recommended amount is more beneficial than over watering, which can make vegetation less drought tolerant

K.I.D. does not enforce the usage or directives of the cities. Customers should contact the city
with questions on use of potable water for the purposes of irrigating.

 K.I.D. has established an enforcement policy designed to promote adherence and help ensure all of our customers receive an equitable share of the water available to the District. Most suspected violation reports were neighbors who noticed frequent watering, flooded lawns, or experienced damage to their property due to a neighbor over watering. Those that report violations typically were doing their part to follow the schedule to help ensure that they and their neighbors have water and were frustrated by those who were jeopardizing the availability of water through unrestricted use.

 A valid water right is necessary to take or use water from our rivers, streams, and lakes. K.I.D.
applied for and was granted a water right to the Columbia River in 2003. However, the new water right was challenged in court and decided adversely to the District. At this time, no new Columbia River water rights are issued without 100% replacement mitigation of flows, due to the federal “No Net Loss” rule. In order to get other entities and agencies to sign off on a new withdrawal permit, water would need to be purchased upstream to fill the hole of the water taken out at a hypothetical Columbia River pump station. The cost of litigation, mitigation and new infrastructure makes pursuit of Columbia River water a distant and expensive venture, costing an estimated 1-200 million dollars. However, in response to customer feedback, K.I.D. is continuing to pursue this matter.

 We are always looking for ways to defend our water rights, seek new resources and to best steward what we have through conservation and efficiency methods, projects, and public education. Currently, K.I.D. is working to have Congress fund a project to electrify our pumps at Chandler. Electrification will help provide water security during times of drought because it will replace the hydro pumps currently being used. Those hydro pumps require use of 1.25 cfs of water from the District’s allotment to be used and released back into the river in order to pump a deliverable amount of 1 cfs of water. The water used to run the hydro pumps is not available for irrigation in a year of full water supply, but when the pumps are electrified that water could be pumped to the canal in a drought year. Simply put, electrification allows for better management of the K.I.D. water right, and this has many benefits for K.I.D. customers and the environment.

 The Governor declared a drought statewide, including in the Yakima Basin. K.I.D. has a Yakima River water right, meaning that our water comes from the Yakima River. The cities and other irrigation districts may receive their water through another source, such as the Columbia River.

The source of water for the Yakima River is the Cascade Mountain range on the Westside of the state. The mountain snowpack, which slowly melts, replenishes the water in the Yakima River. However, in 2015, the State of Washington experienced the lowest snowpack ever recorded in the Yakima Basin. Additionally, the river levels fluctuate for many other reasons including air temperatures, return flows from irrigators up stream, and precipitation. All of the water in reservoirs which feed the K.I.D. was not enough to supply all users for the entire water season. Without adequate snowpack in future years, we may be facing extreme drought conditions of historic proportion. It was critical that K.I.D. take action to best steward the water available with the most current information available.

 Irrigation water is for the sole purpose of irrigating. The water is untreated and may pose a health risk to humans and animals and is not for uses other than irrigating.

 In 2015, all customers with less than 3 acres of land were required to adhere to the District Watering Schedule. Customers with more than 3 acres of land or served from a canal turnout were asked to contact the District for a custom schedule that allowed an equitable portion of the available water. Some customers needed to supplement with feed or city water. K.I.D. recommended that people considering using potable city water for the purpose of watering fields contact the city to learn more about their policy on water usage.

 The owner of the property is responsible for ensuring adherence to the District watering schedule and will ultimately be responsible for all fines assessed. If a violation has occurred, a warning door hanger will be left at the property and K.I.D. will also send a certified letter to the homeowner if the mailing address is different from the property address.

 At this time, K.I.D. is not offering any incentives for the removal of lawns. The District does recommend that those customers that are concerned about the impacts to lawn grasses caused by drought consider converting their lawn to other less water intensive vegetation, such as Xeriscaping. Additionally, the Board will take this issue up to evaluate its merit.

 No. All K.I.D. customers were curtailed in 2015. The schedule was developed in order to most equitably deliver water to all of K.I.D.’s customers. The total water supply available to the District was reduced and everyone carried the burden together. That being said, not all customers use water the same way. Wine grapes only used about 1/3 of the amount of water used by residential customers. Customers with over 3 acres and public entities are given a separate schedule to help balance the constantly changing water levels in the canal. When the water levels fluctuated in the canals our large land owners provided the District with the ability to prevent waste and use the excess water quickly to avoid over topping the canals. Additionally, when water was needed schools, cemeteries and HOA’s were shut off.

 During the drought the District could not allow makeup days. Make up days would alter the demand on the system creating additional challenges and therefore we were not able to adjust the schedule to provide make up watering days. Customers were allowed to water perennials, shrubs, vegetable gardens, and trees with high efficiency irrigation systems or a hose and sprinkler connected to your riser. Some customers supplemented with city water until their next scheduled day. K.I.D. does not promote use of city water for irrigation and encourages all customers to contact the city regarding the use of potable water to supplement irrigation.

 Your K.I.D. assessment pays for the operation and maintenance of the irrigation system and the repayment of the USBR loan to the District, which is necessary to repay the building of the multimillion dollar Kennewick Irrigation District infrastructure and facilities, and our share of the related Yakima Project storage reservoirs located in the headwaters. Your assessment dollars also pay for capital projects like canal lining and automated gates, which helps during drought years. During a drought year, our costs increase, to pay for operations and maintenance and administration costs associated with customer service and public information and education. We do not meter the water that is used and therefore, we do not bill for the water that is used in the same manner as the city water and utility companies.

 Irrigation water is for irrigation purposes only and is not to be used for dust control. Some customers may need to supplement with city water to control the dust. Contact the city to learn more about what they allow.

The following frequently asked questions came out of the 2015 drought. Although we are not (as of 8/14/2023) requiring any watering restrictions at this time, this Q&A will be similar in nature, therefore it’s worth sharing this information should we require a watering schedule in 2024.