Roger Sonnichsen of the Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District
QCBID employees replace concrete in a lateral in the Royal watermaster section.
T
he Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District (QCBID) is one of the three irrigation districts operating the Columbia Basin Project (CBP), which brings water resources to the Columbia basin. It serves about 250,000 acres, which grow over 45 crops. In this interview, QCBID Manager Roger Sonnichsen tells Irrigation Leader about QCBID’s current top issues and how it is continuing its essential services during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
8 | IRRIGATION LEADER | June 2021
irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF QCBID.
Roger Sonnichsen: I grew up in Okanogan County on a small cattle ranch. My dad irrigated about 70 acres of alfalfa with a silage corn rotation. Growing up on the ranch, I first began my irrigation experience helping dad change handline sprinklers along with my brother, Wayne, at an early age. During my high school years, I worked for the neighbors, moving handline sprinklers morning and evening during the summer between haying jobs. Following graduation from Liberty Bell High School, I attended Washington State University (WSU) and received a bachelor of science in agricultural engineering. My focus during college was irrigation. My first engineering job was with Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District as a summer intern. I continued at WSU to obtain
a master’s degree with a focus on water conservation. My master’s coursework led me to accepting a 2‑year job with the Washington Department of Ecology’s water resources program, working in the referendum 38 grants program and providing funding to irrigation districts to help them develop water conservation planning and funding projects. With constraints at Ecology and looking for a change of view, I accepted employment with Boyle Engineering, a consulting firm in Colorado with a focus on water planning and modeling. Following 4 years of work in Colorado, my wife and I decided to return to be closer to family in the Northwest. This move was made possible by an opportunity at the Ephrata field office of the Bureau of Reclamation on the CBP. I enjoyed my work at Reclamation in irrigation operations, which also came to involve water planning and modeling in the Yakima basin and on the CBP. I always enjoyed working with irrigation districts while at Reclamation, so when an assistant manager position opened at QCBID, I applied. I had worked at Reclamation for 12 years. QCBID Manager Darvin Fales elected to give me a chance, for which I am grateful. Darvin was a great mentor, and it was my pleasure to work under him for 12 years. When he took a position at Columbia Basin Hydropower, I threw my name in the hat to succeed him, and I am humbled that the QCBID directors appointed me as manager in fall 2019.
