HERMISTON
IRRIGATION
DISTRICT
New Edition of Rules
and Regulation Handbook
The
goals of enforcing this resolution are to (a) ensure that the easements
pursuant to which the district delivers water are clear from encroachments in
order to allow access and an open way for the District to inspect, operate,
manage, repair and improve the water delivery system; (b)
encourage water users to remove existing encroachments and deter future
encroachments; and (c) allow the District to assess and collect charges based
on the class of violation in order to defray the District’s additional costs
associated with encroachments.
For
those of you who have encroachments on the easements you will first receive a Warning
letter which will identify the encroachments and describe the corrective
action necessary. Failure to
comply with the corrective actions in the warning letter will result in a Notification
of Violation in writing being issued and a non-removable administrative
charge being assessed. The
notification of violation will state the class of violation, corrective action
necessary and a deadline for performing the corrective action to avoid
additional charges. There are 3
classes of violation ranging from minor to severe with corresponding charges
attached.
Water Conservation
and Piping Project
The District has applied for and received a grant to replace the aging pipe and liner on the “L” line. This is a two phase project with phase I being funded this year which will require installation this fall and winter to be ready for our next water season. Phase II of the project has also been approved, however funding has not been committed at this time. Hopefully congressional actions will provide adequate funds to the Bureau of Reclamation so that this phase can be installed next year.
When this project is completed it will provide piped gravity pressure water to all patrons who receive water from the “L” line. This is a conservation project designed to accommodate sprinkler irrigation only. Flood irrigation will not be available once the project is completed in your area. All sprinkler systems should be designed to use no more than 8˝ gal per minute per acre (i.e. 5ac x 8˝ gal per min = 42˝ gal per minute). Each water user will be responsible for their own pump which will be necessary to achieve good coverage and efficient irrigation. Even though this system will have some gravity pressure it will not be adequate to efficiently operate sprinklers.
Patrons who will be affected by phase I this year will be notified by additional correspondence. All patrons, whether on phase I or phase II, need to be sure that any encroaching fences, buildings, rubbish or other items within the easement are removed. This includes all easements of the “L” line and the laterals or branches that come off the main canal.
Construction on this project will begin the first part of December and continue through January with anticipated completion in early February. It is possible that some delays could occur due to lack of pipe availability which we can not predict at this time.
The cooperation of all property owners in the work area will make the project go much smoother and be less time consuming for the District crew. We will be removing old pipe and lining and hauling it away as well as hauling in some fill material so it will be essential that all of the easements be free of encroachments.
Fall and Winter Maintenance Activities
Since irrigation water was
shut off on October 1st our ditch riders have become a part of the
maintenance crew. The first
project was putting new lining in the
For most of November the focus will be on other canal maintenance through out the district. This will include some burning, head gate repairs, brush removal and general cleaning of canals. Also during that time any portion of the system that requires winterization will be attended to.
Beginning in early December the “L” line piping project will get started and will not be completed until mid February. This project will require the entire work force to complete the necessary work in a reasonable amount of time. Again, cooperation of property owners in having the entire easement clear of all encroachments will be essential to the timely installation of the pipeline.
From the time that the
“L” line piping project is done until the beginning of the irrigation
season we will be continuing to clean canals, repair gates and structures,
installing new structures and preparing for another delivery season.
As you can see we have a very full schedule for off season work to be
done so if you have maintenance items that you believe need attention it is
important that we know about it as soon as possible.
Those items that we don’t know about until just before the irrigation
season begins may not get into the work schedule.
Please help us to help you by giving us early notification of problems
so that we have an opportunity to get them taken care of.
Board of Directors
Len
Jeppeson - Division 1
John
Lybrand – Division 4
HID Staff
Greg
Dell, Field Manager - 567-3024 or 561-7680
Dawn
Henderson, Customer Service - 567-3024
Mike Christley,
Tom Flanagan,
Doug
Brown - Relief Ditch Rider / Maintenance Crew