The irrigation district serving much of the city of Kennewick as well as other outlying areas of Benton County has begun refilling canals that went dry a week ago following repairs to a critical pumping station. 

Kennewick Irrigation District notified its customers the afternoon of May 14 that work on the Chandler Pumping Plant on the Yakima River between Prosser and Benton City had progressed enough to allow one of the facility’s two pumps to be restarted. 

“Some areas of the system will take several days to receive water as the system is refilled and stabilized for water delivery. Exact timing will vary by location,” KID said in its message. 

The second pump is still being reassembled and expected to be online by May 19, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The agency owns and operates the pumping facility. 

The irrigation district told its customers on April 30 it would temporarily halt water deliveries on May 8 and for as long as 10 days so the Bureau of Reclamation could repair the pumping plant.  

While one of the plant’s two pumps was operational, the other has been kept shut down due to issues found during maintenance before the season began. Both pumps are needed to meet water demand during the warmest months of the year. 

KID provides irrigation water to more than 20,000 acres in and around Kennewick.  

While many of its customers are residential, it also supplies agricultural areas such as Badger Canyon and wineries in the Red Mountain wine-growing area near West Richland. Most of that water is supplied via the canal filled at Chandler. 

To view KID’s water status map, go to: experience.arcgis.com/experience/d6223bd61ba74f54a77281dfb024977a