Agencies study water supply if Snake River dams breached

{child_byline}By MATTHEW WEAVER

Capital Press{/child_byline}

Government officials fielded questions from stakeholders about their study of the availability of water in the event that the four lower Snake River dams are breached.

The study, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Washington Department of Ecology, is an “objective technical analysis” of water supply and long-term availability, and a related economic analysis.

Breaching the dams means pools would drop by about 100 feet and/or groundwater levels would decline, according to the agencies.

The study is a result of the mediated agreement and litigation stay negotiated by the Biden administration, the states of Oregon and Washington; the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes; and environmental nonprofit organizations in December.

It does not cover regional energy need planning, transportation infrastructure or recreation. Those studies are being conducted by the Department of Energy and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Reclamation deputy regional manager Roland Springer said.

Final authority over breaching the dams remains with Congress.

The agencies held virtual meetings June 25 and June 27.

Water replacement

The study will identify potential solutions for water supply replacement, supported by existing water rights, said Ron Fehringer, principal project manager at Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., the contractor leading the study.

“The Jacobs team is going to think creatively and develop a large list of potential water replacement alternatives, while drawing upon work documented in lots of previous studies performed by others,” he said. “Anything that makes sense, we’re going to be including that economic analysis that helps make sure we understand all the issues. …”

The team will narrow the list of alternatives and make cost estimates.

No alternatives have been identified, Fehringer said. “Nothing is predetermined at this point, nothing’s been left off the table or guaranteed on the table,” he said.

As the consulting firm gets close to a public draft, it will conduct a peer review with “subject matter experts” — specializing in irrigation, electrical power, river reservoir diversions, sediment and cost estimates, among others — and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service representatives.

“It’s going to get thorough review by a large team of individuals,” Fehringer said. “We have lots of people on here with 30-plus years of experience that are going to be guiding and executing the study. We’re very confident that we’ve got the right people looking at this with the right skillsets and qualifications. The quality of the product is something we’re very focused on. We want something that’s defensible and going to make sense to everybody.”

‘Another layer of detail’

Designs and cost estimate will be “high-level” and “not overly detailed,” Fehringer said.

Previous studies have gone into varying levels of detail, Springer said.

“With this study, we want to add another layer of detail where we do complete analysis of all the issues that would relate to water supply replacement and prepare some more engineering and conceptual design alternatives,” Springer said. “There’s a lot of information out there already, we recognize, but we want to take it to the next level to help inform any potential decisions.”

The study is focused almost entirely on water supply replacement, while previous studies also considered other dam services, Fehringer said. The new study will “update and synthesize” previous work and add more detail regarding costs and economics, he said.

Next steps

The agencies will conduct interviews with affected water users, including large and small irrigators representing crop and livestock production, and municipal and industrial users, beginning in July. This includes site visits. The study area covers 50,000 acres to 93,000 acres, said Tom Tebb, director of Ecology’s Office of the Columbia River.

An in-person public information session presenting the draft report will be in the areas around the Tri-Cities in Washington and Lewiston, Idaho, in late 2024 to early 2025.

A final report would be delivered in mid-2025.

Tebb said the state agency and bureau are providing $4.45 million to complete the study as a draft in 2024, with an additional $250,000 should it be necessary to provide additional data or more work in the 2025 fiscal year.

“This is a really short timeframe for a complex, large study,” Fehringer said.

“There’s a number of studies being done in the short term recognizing that issues and questions will remain afterwards,” Springer said. “This information generated here will provide a really good basis of information going beyond what we have right now, to inform later conversations and discussions about Congressional authorization and those types of things. There could be additional studies or work following this, but the intent here is to provide some really good information at a very quick pace, based on the commitments we made in the Dec. 14 agreement.”