Central Washington Irrigation Will Be Shutoff Starting Thursday

The Roza Irrigation District will shutdown water starting Thursday morning.  District Manager Scott Revell noted the prorationing process will take about four days, with pumps 1-12 shutdown on Thursday, May 21st.

On Friday, May 22nd, the Main Canal and gravity lateral canals and pipes from mile post 11.7 to 59.0 as well as Pumps 13, 14 and possibly 15 will be shutdown.  Then on Saturday May 23rd, the Main Canal, gravity lateral canals and pipes from mile post 59.1 downstream as well as Pumps 16 & 17 will be turned off.  And finally, on Sunday May 24, and remaining Main Canal, gravity lateral canals and pipes which are still running downstream of mile post 59.0 will be shutdown.

Revell said water will be off for about ten days, the exact length of the shutdown will be determined next week based on the weather forecast.  The re-start process is expected to take 4+ days to complete. 

Shutoff Will Save Thousands Of Acre Feet

Revell said the shut down will allow 6,000 to 7,000 acre feet to be moved to later in the season.  Shutting down and refilling the canal system takes about 750 acre feet, which equals about one day’s running time at minimum flows.

To manage the low water supply in 2026, Roza has also leased 4,217 acre feet of senior rights water and will implement delivery restrictions for the rest of the season when the system is re-started.  District officials said they anticipate the 2026 irrigation season will also end about three weeks earlier than normal; the target date for the season to end is September 30th.

In addition, there are over 10,000 acres fallowed this year, which will also help to reduce irrigation demand this season.

Roza, Growers Have Focused On Conservation For The Past Decade

Since the 2015 drought Roza has piped 80 miles of canals (using $19M+ of Roza grower funds) and installed $2.5M of concrete sealant using state funds. Roza growers have converted an additional 10,000+ acre to drip irrigation.

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