There’s plenty of local support percolating for a planned reservoir along the Dungeness River.
However, as the Legislature meets, the project, like many other statewide, remains on hold for funding until the state’s budget is set.
“It’s a difficult project because there’s no definitive source of funding,” said Ann Soule, Public Works resource manager for the City of Sequim.
The proposed $24-$35 million Dungeness Off-Channel Reservoir includes a new 88-acre reservoir along the Dungeness River inside a proposed 320-acre Clallam County park off River Road in Sequim.
Its purpose is to store water in the winter and spring to help with river flow late in the irrigation season, typically Aug. 15-Sept.15, and contain possible flooding during heavy rains
During the 2015 drought, Amanda Cronin, project manager for the Washington Water Trust, said the Dungeness River dropped to 60 cubic feet per second but this could add somewhere between 25-35 cubic feet of water per second bringing the river to at least 105 cubic feet per second in its lowest time.
Additionally, she said it would help endangered salmon returning to spawn.
“It’s significant,” she said.
“In a wet year we may be OK but generally we don’t meet instream goals in the late season.”
Going forward, Soule said community partners’ first objective will be seeing the land’s ownership successfully transferred from the Department of Natural Resources to Clallam County.
She said the Legislature makes the call on transfer of land because it’s not a viable source of timber, which the proposed park recently was logged.
“We’re hoping to have it secure by 2017 or 2018,” Cronin said.
Their next objective includes some or all of the funding and to create a final design with tentative plans to begin construction in at least three years but that depends on land acquisition and funds for final design, Soule said.
Cronin said the project received a grant in 2013, which led to the feasibility study for the project and last year was its most active year for grant applications.
The project ranks 14th on the final 2017-2019 Floodplains by Design Proposed Funding List through the Department of Ecology requesting $4.48 million.
However, Soule said Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed state budget cut the list at $20 million and funding for the reservoir comes in at around $58 million.
“It’s going to be a tough year besides education,” she said. “We just have to keep waiting and see.”
Cronin said there is one outstanding grant application with FEMA for $900,000 that could cover stormwater capture elements while the Floodplains by Design application could help with engineering elements and land acquisition.
The concept of water storage and its challenges on the Dungeness has been a point of discussion among community partners for 15-20 years, Cronin said, and in the past three years its focused on the off-channel site.
Some of its proposed components include capturing stormwater to prevent downstream flooding in the City of Sequim, provide opportunities for aquifer recharge, create a new county park with river access and recreational opportunities and support agricultural sustainability in the Dungeness valley.
Cronin said the site would be actively managed by the irrigation district and its deepest would be 22 feet and lined.
Site visit
Cronin led a tour of the proposed reservoir site in December with more than 30 people from partnering agencies including the Clallam Conservation District, Washington Water Trust, Department of Ecology, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Dungeness Water Users Association, Clallam County and City of Sequim.
Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias said the reservoir is a “true story in collaboration” and that he’s “excited about potential to move this forward.”
Scott Chitwood, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Natural Resources Department director, said the tribe’s interest is in the health and well-being of migrating fish in the river and that adapting to climate change is a fact.
“We have lost perimeter snowfields in the glaciers and this reservoir does what permanent snow fields used to do — store water,” he said.
Sequim resident Hank Oosterveld said he appreciated the forward-thinking nature of the project.
He compared it to similar projects in the Netherlands after World War II when dikes broke and that the country’s later projects had a 30-40 year outlook for flooding.
“I see an element of that in this project,” he said. “It’s doing something significant looking over several decades.”
As for more details on the proposed park portion, local leaders say they’ll have to wait.
Joel Winborn, Clallam County parks director, said he and county officials have looked at the site possibilities for a park but nothing is concrete.
“It’s still early,” he said.
For more information on the project, visit washingtonwatertrust.org.
Amanda Cronin, project manager for Washington Water Trust, said the proposed reservoir would help the water flow in the Dungeness River during its lowest time, typically mid-August to mid-September. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
During the 2015 drought, Amanda Cronin, project manager for the Washington Water Trust, said the Dungeness River dropped to 60 cubic feet per second but a proposed off-channel reservoir could add somewhere between 25-35 cubic feet of water per second, bringing the river to at least 105 cubic feet per second in its lowest time. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
During the 2015 drought, Amanda Cronin, project manager for the Washington Water Trust, said the Dungeness River dropped to 60 cubic feet per second but a proposed off-channel reservoir could add somewhere between 25-35 cubic feet of water per second, bringing the river to at least 105 cubic feet per second in its lowest time. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
