Small Town News

City gives North Dam Park pump to bureau

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After it sat idle for the summer, the pump that normally irrigates much of North Dam Park will be given to the Bureau of Reclamation, which has told the city of Grand Coulee it wants to use it to irrigate the park.

Grand Coulee declared surplus the pump it used to take water from Banks Lake to irrigate North Dam Park with a resolution passed by the city council Monday night.

The pump was purchased through a grant in 1998, and was used by Grand Coulee while it was in charge of maintaining the park.

Grand Coulee gave up its management of the park early this year, though its lease with the bureau to maintain the park expired in 2006. The lease expiration was noticed during an audit and took the both the city and USBR off guard.

The city council said the park had become a budget issue with maintenance costs estimated at $30,000 annually.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Reclamation indicated that it would not take over maintenance of the park, and the irrigation pump has been idle since that time. The bulk of the park's grass is brown and dry.

The Bureau continues to water and mow the area around the covered picnic area, but the remainder of the park suffers from lack of water. The Bureau uses potable water for its irrigation needs for the nearby Banks Lake Park and the portion of North Dam Park it maintains.

Bureau spokesman Charlie Pope said eventually the Bureau would like to use water from Banks Lake and cut the expense of paying Grand Coulee for using potable water.

The Grand Coulee resolution states: "...the city no longer desires to devote the use of its irrigation water for purposes of irrigating the Bureau of Reclamation owned and operated North Dam Park."

The resolution continued, "Whereas the Bureau of Reclamation has expressed a desire to continue using the irrigation pump to irrigate the North Dam Park...

The council had the issue on its agenda two weeks ago, but pulled it at the last minute.



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© 2011 The Star Grand Coulee, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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