Publication Summary

When the Washington State Legislature created the Department of Ecology in 1970, it assigned to the new agency not only pollution control functions, but also a major resource management program. The Department of Ecology was given responsibility for the elaborate state administrative system for the control of water use. With the establishment of the new agency, the Legislature also created a quasi-judicial panel to hear and decide appeals from the agency′s decisions on permits and enforcement. From the outset, the Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) has served as the primary trial forum in the state for litigation involving water resource management.

The PCHB is independent of the Department of Ecology, yet the Board′s proceedings are considered part of the administrative process. The Board′s decisions are not recommendations. If not appealed, they are final. Ecology appears before the PCHB as an ordinary litigant in de novo proceedings. Its decisions, however, represent a final decision of the agency. Under the Administrative Procedures Act, they are subject to judicial review in the same manner as other final agency decisions.

Over the years, the PCHB has developed a considerable body of law on water resource questions. Because most cases brought to the Hearings Board are not appealed further, many of the Board′s decisions deal with the issues that have not been addressed by appellate courts. In 1992, Wick Dufford, a member of the PCHB and former attorney in the Ecology Division of the Attorney General′s Office, wrote the first PCHB Water Resource Digest. Mr. Dufford′s digest presented a comprehensive outline of Washington water law with brief summaries of the major points of the decisions of the PCHB under the appropriate topical headings.

In 2002, Jamie Morin and Joe Mentor, Jr., assisted by an editorial board of water law practitioners, completed a comprehensive update to the PCHB Digest. Twelve years of PCHB decisions were added, appellate decisions were included in the digest for the first time, and substantial editing and reordering of the digest occurred.

Prior versions of the water resource digest have been dedicated to a number of people for their outstanding contributions to water resource law in Washington State. These people are Wick Dufford, Ralph Johnson, Charles B. Roe, Jr., Chris Smith Towne, and Deborah Mull. These are just a few of the many who have contributed to the development and understanding of Washington′s water resource laws.