Clallam County recommends ‘E1’ Dungeness Reservoir footprint, seeks funding to finish design

Clallam County Public Works on Feb. 10 recommended proceeding with the so-called “E1” design footprint for the proposed Dungeness River reservoir and resetting the design work so the county can complete permitting and seek construction funding.

The county’s presentation to the Board of Commissioners said the E1 footprint — a two-cell layout sited to avoid the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) easement — would store roughly 960 acre-feet, would meet late‑season irrigation needs for downstream gravity-fed parcels in modeled scenarios, and would avoid the cost and time of relocating BPA transmission infrastructure. Public Works estimated the current construction cost for an E1 configuration at about $36.6 million and for a full‑span alternative (E4) at about $49.3 million.

Why it matters: county staff said E1 can be filled under modeled hydrology and climate scenarios and would supply the critical last 30 days of irrigation water for the parcels the project targets. Larger footprints give more operational flexibility but carry additional cost and multi‑year schedule risk driven mainly by potential relocation…