April 23, 2014
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently approved permits for all but the largest orchards near Wenatchee, WA to receive irrigation water from the Columbia River, according to a Capital Press article available here.
The remaining growers hope the permit will be granted this week, so irrigation pipes can be installed.
Bud Hover, director of the State Department of Agriculture, was instrumental in speeding along the project according to Ryan Walker, biologist and principal partner in Grette Associates, environmental consultants.
The state Department of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife approved permits for orchards to extend irrigations system intakes “to get water from the Columbia but the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers stopped the process at the request of Indian tribes after extension of an irrigation pipe disturbed or came close to an archaeological site,” said Hover.
Allyson Brooks, state Historic Preservation Officer at the Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, said the Corp “resolved the issues by having archaeologists monitor pipe projects to make sure no archaeological sites are disturbed. The archaeologists have the authority to halt the work.”
For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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