One of SVID's reregulating reservoirs.
Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District’s Commitment to Water Conservation
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6 | IRRIGATION LEADER
Water Enhancement Project and embarked on a 40-year project to enhance its existing infrastructure and make it more efficient. In this interview, Lori Brady, SVID’s general manager, speaks with Irrigation Leader's editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, about her district’s history and the challenges and promise of its ongoing water conservation project. Kris Polly: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Lori Brady: I graduated from Washington State University with a degree in civil engineering. I was hired to work in the engineering department in 1989, and I spent 16 years in engineering before being promoted to the administrative department. I was promoted by the board to the position
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SVID.
he Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District (SVID), located in Washington’s Yakima Valley, serves 14,000 primarily agricultural accounts. In 1977, the Washington State Department of Ecology filed an adjudication of the Yakima River basin to determine all existing surface water rights and their respective priority dates within the basin. After a decades-long process, the Superior Court of Yakima County has issued a conditional final order that confirms surface water rights in the Yakima basin. The final order is expected this year. In 2003, the Sunnyside Division Board of Control, of which SVID is the operating entity, the Washington State Department of Ecology, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Yakama Nation reached a settlement over water rights in the Yakima River basin. As a part of this adjudication, SVID committed to the Yakima River Basin
