The Looming Water Wars of the Yakima River
Prosser Falls Irrigation Company threatens litigation against upper-valley users, claiming their senior water rights are being drained by newcomers.
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Unless given assurance of an amicable adjustment to protect its rights to the Yakima River, the Prosser Falls Land and Irrigation Company will be compelled to go to court against subsequent claimants. Such a contest will imperil many water users now depending on the river for irrigation. E. F. Benson of Prosser stated that about thirteen years ago, the company developed a power and irrigation enterprise relying on unappropriated water. Since then, excessive appropriation and use in the upper valleys have caused the flow at their intake to decrease significantly, leaving them with less than half the water needed to operate. Benson argues that the only solution lies in government ownership of the Sunnyside canal and the storage of water in mountain reservoir lakes.
“The water users in the upper valley, whose rights depend upon claims initiated since those of the Prosser company, are certainly resting upon a very precarious foundation.”
The tension between senior water rights holders and newer agricultural interests remains a defining conflict in the Yakima Basin. Today, the debate over water storage and irrigation management continues to shape the economic and ecological landscape of Central Washington.
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