The South Columbia Basin Irrigation District hopes to reopen the Potholes Canal on March 11 following a breach earlier this week.

About 20 miles of the canal are closed, secretary-manager John O’Callaghan said.

The irrigation district’s delivery season begins March 13, but few farmers order water at the beginning of the season, O’Callaghan said.

“It is considerably less than I thought it was going to be — we kind of dodged a bullet there,” O’Callaghan said of the damage during an emergency meeting March 8. “I thought it was a big, big, big problem and it’s a big problem, so I took two ‘bigs’ out of my description.”

The breach is at approximately mile 59.4, just west of the corner of Cherry Drive and Dogwood Road, north of Pasco, Wash., in Franklin County.

District crews worked through the night of March 6 to control the release of water from the canal.

Water from the canal breach flowed south and southeast, impacting an irrigation lateral, farmland and county roads until the flow of water could be stopped.

During the meeting, the board declared an emergency to approve quickly hiring contractors to repair the canal and filing an insurance claim. Structural damage on the lateral, which serves 8,000 irrigated acres, will take longer to repair.

O’Callaghan estimated the district would spend more than $100,000 on repairs, and that the initial hole was 50 feet long.

The leak was likely caused by a burrowing animal, such as a gopher, badger or beaver, O’Callaghan said.

“Everywhere that we have gophers is a potential weak spot in the canal,” he said. “Burrowing rodents are definitely the bane of our existence. That’s usually how the weak spot is found in the canal to start with. The thing is, once it washes out, all the evidence is gone.”

O’Callaghan asked curious onlookers to stay out of the work zone.

“There’s a lot of big equipment and a lot of activity, and there’s a lot of opportunity for somebody to get hurt, entangled with that equipment,” he said. “I am kind of astonished at how bold some members of the public have been interacting with extremely large pieces of equipment that have no idea that they are there.” 

Farmers, water users and property owners can check the district website at www.scbid.org or contact the district at 509-547-1735 for information regarding damage claims.