Down the Pipeline

This is a good time of the year to share with you the importance of water conservation and not overusing your annual water allotment.  As Columbia Irrigation District (CID) expands and more irrigable acres are served, we rely on you to be responsible stewards. In order to be good stewards you will need to understand two important CID standards: 1) Your Annual Water Allotment, 2) Your Instantaneous Usage.  Each plays a very important part in making sure water distributions are reliable and are an equal benefit to all customers.   

1) Your Annual Water Allotment

How much water are you allowed to use each irrigation season? 
Some of you might think that as a patron of the District your allottment is unlimited. Not true! The truth is you are allotted 3 ½ acre feet or 42 inches of water annually.  What does that mean? That means over the entire water season (March 20 to October 15 or about 210 days) your irrigated land is entitled to 42 inches of water or about ¼ inch of water per day for 210 continuous days.  

How can I measure my water distribution rate? 
Realistically, it is impracticable for the District to ask you to control your flow to that ¼ inch parameter. You can however, do a simple test to measure your water distribution rate.  Take an empty pan or cookie sheet and place it in your lawn or field within a sprinkler zone.  Turn on the water in that zone and time how long it takes to fill the pan or cookie sheet to ¼ inch level.  That should be a good indicator for how long you should keep your irrigation water flowing in that area.

2) Your Instantaneous Usage

Instantaneous usage is the volume of water you use at any moment. 

Why is instantaneous usage important to the district? 
If you and others water your entire place off of one or two valve settings, you probably are contributing to shorting the entire canal system of water.  The instantaneous amount of water that CID is permitted to take from the Yakima River is 65,076 gallons per minute.  That should be enough water in our canal system to supply 9,570 acres at any moment with CID water; that is if everyone only took 6.8 gallons per minute – per acre!  But the 6.8 gallons per minute – per acre is not realistic.  Most farm and home irrigation systems run at 4 to 20 times that rate.  

What are the consequences of running too much water at one time? 
We are limited to how much water that can be squeezed down a pipe.  If you are running many sprinkler heads (more than 4) at one time you are likely hurting your neighbors and others in the CID. This is usually not a problem until July and August when everyone is trying to water around the same time from 3am to 9am. 

In conclusion, CID has been very lenient on letting patrons use water as needed. The District counts on you to be the custodian of your water.  If you see neighbors overusing water, politely inform them of what you now know about being a good custodian.  

Let’s all work together and make this a great irrigation season.  If you have any questions please call our office at 586-6118. 

Keith