Chelan County Kicks Off Water Storage Projects for In Stream & Out Stream Benefits

Chelan County, along with the Forest Service and Federal Natural Resource Conservation Service, are exploring different ways to provide additional storage for water. The goal is to create both in stream flow and out stream flow benefits for irrigation.

"We set up a water mitigation bank here," said Commissioner Bob Bugert. "Part of that is there is a capability to do some work within a lot of the high elevation tributaries to improve floodplain function and to allow for groundwater recharge."

That work allows for those waters to be retained later in the season when it's most needed, during the low flow period. Some of the work will be conduced in Chihuahua River and Icicle River.

"There's going to be a fair amount of work through the years to get these up and running," said Bugert. "It's a novel concept and we think it's going to have a lot of benefits."

The county is anticipating grant funding to implement toward the work.