Yakima Basin Initiatives
Purpose
Yakima County and the Water Resources Division Participates in planning processes that effect water quality, water quantity and flow management, groundwater, and riverine habitats. The division supplies technical information to these planning processes and also assists the Yakima County Commissioners who serve on the policy boards which oversee or manage these initiatives in the Yakima Basin.
-
Lower Naches River Coordination Partnership
The Washington Department of Transportation, Yakima County and the City of Yakima came together in 2004 with the desire to develop the Lower Naches River Coordination Partnership as a result of initiatives identified in the Upper Yakima River Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan (CFHMP).
-
Water Storage Studies
In May 2003 the Bureau of Reclamation initiated the Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study to examine the feasibility and acceptability of storage augmentation in the Yakima River basin.
-
Yakima Basin Fish & Wildlife Recovery Board
The Yakima Basin Fish and Wildlife Recovery Board has developed plans for the protection and restoration of salmon in the Yakima Basin.
-
Yakima Basin Ground Water Studies
The groundwater resources of the Yakima Basin are the focus of this cooperative study between the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Bureau of Reclamation, the Washington State Department of Ecology, and Yakama Nation.
-
Yakima County Groundwater Management Area (GWMA)
The goal of the GWMA is to reduce nitrate contamination concentrations in groundwater below state drinking water standards. The target area extends from Union Gap to County Line Road in Yakima County, Washington, minus the Yakama Nation.