Proposed Reservoir’s Leakage a Worry
By Michael Milstein, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Sep. 19–A proposed central Washington reservoir with a multibillion-dollar price tag has another serious catch: It would leak water underground, into the highly contaminated Hanford Nuclear Reservation and toward the Columbia River.
The water could carry radioactive and chemical contamination that leaked from underground storage tanks on the reservation into the river, officials said Tuesday as they released a study of seepage from the proposed Black Rock Reservoir.
The finding is likely to heighten concern in Oregon over the reservoir sought by drought-plagued Yakima Valley farmers as a more reliable source of irrigation water.
Oregon officials are already concerned about Hanford contamination, left from Cold War bomb-making efforts, reaching the Columbia and its prized salmon runs. The new study suggests that water leaking from the reservoir, if it is built, could heighten that risk, said Jane Hedges of the Washington Department of Ecology.
Seepage from large reservoirs is normal, but the proximity to Hanford puts leaks from the Black Rock Reservoir in a different light. The new study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation suggests the leaks could eventually raise the water table 20 to 40 feet on contaminated parts of the Hanford Reservation.
Groundwater across much of the reservation already violates water standards, Hedges said.
It may be possible to intercept or divert water seeping from the reservoir by constructing underground walls or other facilities, officials said. But they said they could not predict the costs, or how effective the measures would be.
“We can’t guarantee we’d intercept all of the water that might be trying to get around the dam,” said Jerry Kelso of the Bureau of Reclamation.
The Black Rock Reservoir, about 30 miles east of Yakima and five miles west of Hanford, would draw water from the Columbia River behind Priest Rapids Dam. Seepage from the reservoir would be greatest when it first fills, when it is likely to leak close to 40 billion gallons a year.
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