Gregoire plans to pay tribes for water

OLYMPIA -- The state should pay a pair of Native American tribes about $5.9 million a year to cooperate with plans for giving more Columbia River water to farmers and cities below Grand Coulee Dam, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday.

With the cash, Gregoire hopes to buy a partial solution to the tug of war over scarce water supplies that has roiled the Columbia Basin for decades.

The deals announced Monday secure cooperation from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and set up a tentative agreement with the Spokane Tribe of Indians. The Legislature has the final say in both cases.

The agreements would allow the state to draw extra water from Lake Roosevelt to satisfy farmers and local governments downstream, and help protect fish habitat. At most, the state would pull about 43 billion gallons of water from the reservoir in drought years -- enough to lower the level of the lake behind Grand Coulee Dam by about 1.5 feet. Gregoire's administration expects to begin drawing extra water from the reservoir in the spring.

The Colville Tribes would get an initial payment of $3.8 million, and $3.6 million annually in the second year and beyond. The Spokane Tribe would get $2.25 million yearly. The payments would continue indefinitely.