Irrigation Turn-on for 2021
The Wenatchee Reclamation District (WRD) begins filling their canal system on April 5, 2021. It takes a day or two for the water to travel from the Wenatchee River at Dryden, to and through Wenatchee, across the foot bridge into East Wenatchee, then finally to dump into the WRD’s canal here in East Wenatchee under the road (you can’t see it) at 9th and Eastmont. We let the water settle a bit for a day or two before we open the headgate to charge our system. We plan to charge our system by opening the headgate on Saturday April 10 , 2021.
You and your neighbors are the Columbia View Terrace Irrigation Association (CVTIA). We have 72 lot owners in our neighborhood. As lot owners we voluntarily maintain and operate our own system separate from the WRD. We purchase water from the WRD annually via County property assessments. WRD delivers the water to our headgate on the canal near the middle of the golf course; our system starts at the headgate. This year we begin to collect dues annually. A notice was sent out on 3/5/21 for that purpose. Previously we assessed lot owners separately every few years to pay for maintenance of our system (last done in 2012 for $40 per lot, prior to that it was in 2006). Normal maintenance has been minimal since 2012, just s few hundred dollars for headgate screen maintenance and some lateral valve work, but in 2020 we increased our flow ability by purchasing water shares for 5 years from a person who made their unused shares available. With this increased cost and our need to increase our bank account for future large maintenance issues (pipe breaks, contractor accidents, etc. ) we needed to increase our dues.
Each lot has a main valve that attaches to the main irrigation lateral lines. Lot owners are responsible for the irrigation piping down-stream of their main valve. When we charge our system each spring, we check for leaks and ensure that each lot’s main valves are either closed or under proper control so leaks can be observed. To do this check, we may need to enter your yard and verify that your main irrigation valve or valves are off as well as look for main delivery pipe leaks. If you don’t want us in your yard and you can ensure that your main valve is off and that there are no main line leaks, please call or email me to let me know (see below for info), otherwise on Saturday morning about 10:00 a.m. on 4/10/21, you will see a couple of your neighbors wandering through the neighborhood and into each yard checking valves and working with lot owners/renters for identifying any leaks or problems. We will attempt to notify you by knocking before entering your property. If you have a locked yard, please leave it open or have someone available to open it for us. If we can’t get in, and if there are leaks, the entire lateral will be shut off until repairs are made; meaning you and your close neighbors won’t have irrigation water until then. Also, those who have not paid their annual dues by 4/10/21 could have their valves closed until they pay us.
As a lot owner or lot user (if renting), your lot is automatically a member of our irrigation association and the lot’s property covenant gives the association an easement to maintain the irrigation system as necessary including entering your yard to do so (just like gas, water, electricity, telephone, etc.).
The website I created for our irrigation system has all this information and much more, including pictures; you should check out the site. You might want to bookmark it for information updates (outages, turn-on / turn-off dates, etc.). the website is: www.lubean.com/cvtia.
We have been doing this annual turn-on action each year for at least four decades. If you have questions, concerns, or information, give me a call on my cell 509-679-4259, email me at: hlubean@gmail.com or stop by my house at 1700 North Aurora.
I am Hank LuBean, your neighbor and current CVTIA Administrator.