CONNELL, Washington – The Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) seeks public scoping comments regarding the Corps’ proposal to grant permission for potential alteration to a Corps-constructed levee in the City of Connell, Washington.
Pursuant to 33 United States Code, Section 408, Corps permission for the City of Connell’s water line replacement project is necessary because the project has the potential to alter the Esquatzel Coulee Flood Risk Reduction Project, a levee system which was constructed by the Corps on the Esquatzel Coulee, a seasonally dry streambed.
The city proposes to remove and replace a water line that crosses the Esquatzel Coulee Flood Risk Reduction Project. The water line runs roughly parallel to Franklin Street between 3rd Avenue North and Columbia Avenue. The current water line has deteriorated and replacement is necessary for the continued operation of water services.
The new water line would be approximately 930 feet long and would be installed by excavating up to 300 square feet of the Esquatzel Coulee, placing a new 8-inch-diameter line, and backfilling the trench with excavated soils. A temporary diversion would be installed in the coulee, using up to 7 cubic yards of sandbags to divert flow into a 48-inch-by-30-foot culvert. Up to 15 cubic yards of riprap, covering up to 320 square feet of area, would be placed along the coulee to stabilize the bank at each pipe end. The Corps constructed the levees on both sides of the coulee to reduce the risk of flooding to the city, and subsequently turned over operation and maintenance of the levees to the city. Because the excavation and waterline placement would take place in structures constructed by the Corps, these actions require Section 408 permission from the Corps. Additional project details are available in the Corps’ Public Notice available for viewing or downloading on their website at
www.nww.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environmental-Compliance/.
Public input/comments may be submitted June 22-July 22, 2017. Comments must be emailed or postmarked no later than July 22, 2017, to be considered in the development of an Environmental Assessment to evaluate the effects of the Corps granting permission to potentially alter the Esquatzel Coulee Flood Risk Reduction Project (Section 408). All information and comments submitted will be included in the permanent public record. Electronic comments may be submitted directly to the Corps using the online comment form link on the Corps’ website. Comments may also be emailed to
NEPANWW@usace.army.mil, inserting “Connell Water Line Replacement” in the subject line. To submit written comments via the U.S. Postal Service, mail them to:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
ATTN: CENWW-PD-EC – Connell Water Line Replacement
201 North 3rd Ave.
Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876
For additional information or questions about waterline installation Section 408 permission action, please contact the Corps’ environmental coordinator at 509-527-7239. For more information about the City of Connell’s water line replacement project, please contact their Public Works Department at 509-234-2701.
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