PORT ANGELES — Clallam County officials say the proposed Dungeness Off-Channel Reservoir project continues to move forward, but one of its largest potential funding sources may be ending.
During a recent work session, Public Works staff told commissioners the county is working to amend a 2019 Ecology Streamflow Restoration grant to include a feasibility study on moving a fish screen to the point of diversion on the Highland Irrigation District system — a step partners say could improve fish protection and meet federal fisheries requirements.
But the county’s request for roughly 30 million dollars in FEMA Hazard Mitigation funding now appears unlikely to move forward. Tim Cook is Hazard Mitigation Officer with Washington’s Emergency Management.
“Our best assessment is that we have run out of reasonable options. We could decide, if you guys wanted to pursue further data, that we could pass it to a special contractor for a benefit-cost analysis regarding aquifer-specific values and have them keep running tests to see where we’re at—we could do that. My office has decided that’s probably not the best use of dollars at this point,” said Hazard Mitigation Officer with Washington’s Emergency Management Tim Cook.
County Public Works officials say the decision now comes down to whether to keep pursuing the current FEMA application or move on. County Deputy Public Works Director Steve Gray says there still could be other funding.
“Our NRCS—the Natural Resource Conservation Service—when we were in, this is probably before FEMA really started engaging with us and starting that NEPA process, they were saying their Small Watershed Program is really a good fit for this type of work. But we had put that on hold because we were well at that point in conversations with FEMA. Whether that is still the case in the future, we can look at the WaterSMART grants and such at the federal level. Typically, this kind of project might be a source—I think there might be some sources at the federal level other than FEMA in the future”
The proposed Dungeness Off-Channel Reservoir would be built near River Road south of Sequim and designed to store water during wetter months, then release it later in the summer to support salmon habitat, irrigation, and groundwater supplies in the Dungeness Basin.