Funds allow pipeline project to advance

ODESSA — The state capital budget approved earlier this month includes $5.5 million in funding for the EL 22.1 pipeline project within the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program.

The pipeline project will use surface water from the Upper Columbia River, pumped into the East Low Canal, to offset ground water traditionally pumped out of the Odessa aquifer.

The EL 22.1 pipeline project would supply water to about 16,000 acres of irrigated land east of Moses Lake and north of Interstate 90. It includes new canal infrastructure, a large-scale pump station, booster pump stations and approximately 12...