Water works: Columbia Basin Project making progress with Odessa Subarea

CASHMERE — The Columbia Basin Project is making gradual progress toward completion with significant accomplishments for the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program and other milestones in recent months, but is still decades away according to the project’s nonprofit arm, the Columbia Basin Development League. General Counsel for the CBDL Colleen Frei explained some of these recent accomplishments. “The project has some exciting things that have been occurring in recent years, particularly with the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Program, which has been a phenomenal collaboration of both federal and Washington state agencies, local regulators and also the landowners there in the Odessa groundwater area,” Frei said. “So that’s kind of been the most recent excitement for the Columbia Basin Project, although the full project is certainly supporting many other needs beyond just the Odessa Subarea.”