The Integrated Plan
Photo credit: Tom Ring
The Seven Elements
The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan identifies seven elements needed to achieve a balanced and comprehensive approach to water resource management and ecosystem restoration in the Yakima River Basin.
Reservoir Fish Passage
Upstream and downstream passage for anadromous and resident fish will be established at all U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs, allowing access to a high-quality, cold-water habitat essential for restoring depleted runs of fish.
Structural and Operational Changes
Much of the Yakima River Basin’s federal and non-federal infrastructure is more than a century old. Modernization measures, such as improving canal efficiency, balancing reservoir levels, and making operational changes, benefit both the fish habitat and the agricultural water supply.
Surface Water Storage
The Integrated Plan will provide 450,000 acre-feet of new storage over thirty years. Water projects in the first ten-year Initial Development Phase include accessing 200,000 acre-feet of water already stored at Kachess Reservoir via a new pumping plan facility, and 14,600 acre-feet from raising the level of Cle Elum Reservoir. Building new reservoirs and expanding an existing reservoir are proposed for later in the Integrated Plan phases.
Groundwater Storage
Additional water supplies will be gained by intentionally storing water in aquifers, and then either pumping it or allowing it to return to the river to improve flows, meet demands, and reduce water temperatures.
Habitat/Watershed Protection
Fish and wildlife habitat enhancement in the basin includes floodplain restoration, flow improvement, removing fish passage barriers, screening diversions, and land and river corridor protection.
Enhanced Water Conservation
Conserving up to 170,000 acre-feet of water per year is the goal of the agricultural side of this program, allowing better instream flows for fish and more precise delivery and use of water. Local governments actively encourage improvements in water conservation from individual homeowners for indoor and outdoor use.
Market Reallocation
The Integrated Plan proponents are developing short- and long-term strategies to increase market reallocation of water during droughts while minimizing adverse effects on other water users and the environment.
Projects Map
Yakima Basin Integrated Plan Initial Development Phase Projects
Habitat/Watershed Protection
- Bull Trout Education Taskforce (Basin Wide)
- Manastash Creek Conservation and Tributary Enhancement Project
- Bateman Island Causeway Modification Conceptual Design/Outreach/Permitting
- Bull Trout Habitat Improvements (basin wide)
- Gold Creek Habitat Assessment, Phase I, II, III and Watershed Plan
- Upper Yakima Floodplain Acquisition and Design Ringer Loop Road, Phase I, II
- Little Rattlesnake Road Decommissioning
- Cle Elum River Side Channel Restoration Project, Phase 2
- Gap-to-Gap Property Acquisitions
- Upper Wapato reach Riparian Restoration
- Ellensburg Water Company /Coleman Creek Restoration
- Reed Diversion Barrier Removal
- Trout Meadows Acquisition /Enhancement
- Little Naches Land Acquisition
- Teanaway Valley Farm Acquisition and Restoration
- Cowiche Easement/Design
- Gap-to-Gap Outfall Relocation and Levee Removal Design and Restoration
- South Fork Tieton Bull Trout Passage Feasibility and Design, Phase I, II, III
- Teanaway/Indian Creek Restoration and Large Wood Replacement
- Yakima Rivermile 89.5 Levee Breach
- Island Road Floodplain Reconnection – Toppenish Creek
- Toppenish Creek – Pop Pom Road
- Teanaway Habitat Restoration and Fencing, Phase I, II, III
- Lower River Thermal Refuge
- Wapato reach Riparian Project
- Yakima Basin Tributary Restoration (Starvation Flats, Ahtanum, Toppenish)
- Naches River and Cowiche Creeek Restoration
- Little Naches Large Wood Project
- Fawn Creek Culvert Replacement
- Kachess River Passage and Floodplain Assessment
- Box Creek Large Wood Replenishment
- Donald Wapato Bridge Restoration
- Little Naches River Watershed Aquatic Restoration
Enhanced Water Conservation
- KRD 13.6, 13.8 Lateral Piping Project
- Wapato Irrigation Project (WIP) Piping Lateral 4-414C
- WIP Piping Satus East Lateral E73
- Kennewick Irrigation District (KID) Division IV Lining
- Manastash Creek Sprinkler Conversions
- Yakima-Tieton ID Diversion Relocation Feasibility Study
- Manastash – Consolidated Pipeline & Manastash Water Ditch Association (MWDA) Pipeline Construction
- WIP Piping of Unit 2 L672 and Headworks Rebuild
- KRD North Branch Canal Lining
- Roza Canal Lining Phases I, II, III, IV
- WIP Lining of Unit 2 (167+20 to 173+80)
- KID Reregulation Reservoir Design
- WIP Unit 2 Upper Dam Rebuild and Lower Dam Removal
- WIP Water Conservation Plan
- City of Yakima Xeriscape Demonstration Project
- Reed Pipeline Design Manastash Creek
- Anderson Diversion Irrigation Water Acquisition
- KRD South Branch Canal Lining, Phases I and II
- WIP Unit 2 West Piping
- WIP Unit 2 West Lining
- KCCD Irrigation Efficiancy Improvements
- KRD Upper Tributary Supplementation
- WIP Track D Lateral Pipeline
- Heritage Gardens Municipal Conservation Program (Basin Wide)
Surface Water Storage
- Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant
Groundwater Storage
- Upper Kittitas Shallow Aquifer Recharge (SAR)
- Yakima City Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR)
- Toppenish Fan Aquifer Recharge
- Selah Moxee Irrigation District SAR Feasibility Study
- Yakima Basin Aquifer Geochemistry Evaluation (Basin Wide)
- KRD Yakima Basin ASR Feasibility Study (Basin Wide)
Structural and Operational Changes
- Cle Elum Pool Raise
- Keechelus to Kachess Conveyance
- KRD Upper Yakima system storage
Reservoir Fish Passage
- Cle Elum Dam
- Tieton (Rimrock) Dam
- Clear Creek Dam
Market Reallocation
- Kittitas Reclamation District and Trout Unlimited Yakima Basin Water Market Structure and Strategic Development (Basin Wide)
The Yakima Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan
Learn more about our projects and take an interactive tour of the Integrated Plan.
Highlights
Celebrate our years of work on resolving conflicts and implementing projects in the Yakima Basin. The projects highlighted illustrate how the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan’s strategies have effectively responded to some of the basin’s most complex water issues, including drought, declining snowpack, fishery restoration, and ecosystem health.
