The Methow Valley Irrigation District (MVID) will extend its pipeline along the west side of the Methow River after receiving an easement across a property where the landowner had denied access.
The extension will complete the district’s west-side pressurized piped system as it was originally planned, said Sandra Strieby, MVID secretary.
When MVID enclosed most of its open canals in pipe in 2016, the district ended the west-side pipeline at a property owned by Vaughn Jolley. The district had intended to extend the line to serve the Jolley property and two other parcels downstream, but was denied an easement by Jolley and ended the new piped irrigation system at his property line.
After Jolley’s death last fall, a personal representative for Jolley negotiated an agreement with the MVID board of directors to provide an easement that allows the pipeline to be extended and complete the irrigation system as it was designed. The board approved the agreement last month.
As part of the agreement, MVID will release claims against the Jolley estate related to alleged damage by Jolley to MVID’s ditch on his property.
The extension will add another 1,600 feet — about one-third of a mile — to MVID’s west side system at a cost of about $34,000, Strieby said.
“The line extension will complete the district’s west-side system,” Strieby said. “Extending the line will provide water to two parcels that do not now have turnouts. There is potential for three or four more parcels to be created by division if domestic water rights become available.”
MVID converted its two open canals on the east and west side of the Methow River to enclosed pipes and wells to reduce the amount of water withdrawn from the Methow and Twisp rivers and leave more water in the rivers for fish habitat.
