Vantage to Pomona FEIS Index 34 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 3 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Affected Environment PAGE 3-283 operating fish hatcheries, construction and operation of fish passage facilities, and adopting and implementing shoreline and recreation management plans (FERC 2008). Grant County PUD distributes the power from these two dams and other power resources at production cost through long-term contracts with 22 regional utilities in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Flowage Easements Any easement is a right or privilege by one to use the land of another for a specific purpose. A flowage easement usually consists of the perpetual right, power, privilege, and easement to overflow, flood, and submerge the lands affected; reserving, however, to the fee owner of the lands all such rights and privileges as may be used and enjoyed without interfering with or abridging the rights granted in the flowage easement. An owner of land is entitled to "just compensation" whenever the waters of a stream or lake are altered or impounded so as to inundate, saturate, or erode his land. This applies to lands not previously affected by natural flooding, as well as to those which have been subject to natural flooding, where water level alteration or artificial impoundment aggravates this natural flooding condition. Such alteration constitutes a "taking" of the land involved and the taker must either purchase the affected land in fee or acquire a flowage easement. Flowage easements associated with the operation of the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric facility and held by the Grant County PUD are located around the shoreline perimeter of the Priest Rapids Reservoir. Irrigation Canals There are several canals, wasteways, and other irrigation facilities in the Project study area. The Selah- Moxee Irrigation Canal, located east of the Pomona Heights Substation, crosses Sage Trail Road and is managed and operated by the Selah Moxee Irrigation District. The Roza Canal is managed by the Roza Irrigation District, and is located along the Yakima River. An unnamed irrigation pump ditch owned and operated by Kittitas Reclamation District is located along the south side of Badger Pocket at the boundary of JBLM YTC. The Wahluke Branch Canal, Saddle Mountain Wasteway, and the Mattawa Canal are all managed and operated by South Columbia Basin Irrigation District. 3.14.2.2 Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater in the Project study area occurs within four principal aquifers: surficial sedimentary units (principally Ellensburg Formation), Saddle Mountains Basalt, Wanapum Basalt, and Grande Ronde Basalt. The location of the four principal aquifers is dependent upon rock type, geologic structure, and topography. Within JBLM YTC reported subsurface depths of groundwater range from 20 feet in stream valleys to more than 200 feet at higher elevations (U.S. Department of the Army [Army] 2010). Wells Drinking water supplies in the Project study area are met primarily by wells that pump groundwater. Individual domestic wells tap permeable portions of a surficial sedimentary aquifer, while most municipal wells tap deeper aquifers in basalt (lava bedrock) and sedimentary interbed layers that underlay the sediments (Pacific Groundwater Group 2011). The drinking water supply for JBLM YTC is provided entirely from groundwater sources. Six wells provide water for three permitted drinking water distribution systems within JBLM YTC (Army 2010). For more than 100 years, irrigated agriculture has existed in the region, with farmers applying fertilizers and pesticides to attempt to maximize crop yields. In the past 25 to 30 years, large scale dairy operations have joined feedlots in the area, significantly increasing the amount of nitrates present. For much of the