09/13/05 Landmark water deal celebrated

Washington Ag September 13, 2005 Cattlemen and farmers along Taneum Creek in Kittitas County, part of the Yakima River watershed, have agreed to a deal that will allow more water flow in the creek during the winter to help spawning steelhead, bull trout and other fish species. The Taneum Canal Company agreed to sell a conveyance water right in return for 817-thousand dollars which will be used to drill wells to water livestock. Ben George is a cattleman and president of the Taneum Canal Company. He says about 40 people attended an event yesterday to celebrate the water deal which he calls a win-win for everyone. George: "And it was really a good turn out. We were able then to take them up to the headworks where we are going to shut her down and the whole bit. We are leaving the water in the stream, whatever is in there, for 100 days, and we will have an alternative source for out stock or whatever." For more than three years, the canal company worked closely with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Washington Water Trust, a private non-profit organization dedicated to restoring stream flows in state river systems, and other partners, to broker the water conveyance right acquisition. The Department of Ecology contributed nearly 517-thousand dollars, the Columbia Basin Water Transaction Program 285-thousand and the Yakama nation 15-thousand dollars. I'm Bob Hoff.