Publication Summary

In 2005, Department of Ecology Director Jay Manning made a significant offer to a broad array of Walla Walla Basin interests. He proposed that Ecology use the full extent of current agency flexibility and authority to allow for the local management of water, provided that:

1) Sufficient streamflows and water quality are maintained to support fish, and 2) Conflicts that might arise around the new flexibility in water use are handled within the basin.

In response, basin groups expressed their willingness to create a partnership with Ecology to develop and implement an innovative water management scheme. Thus began the Walla Walla Water Management Initiative (WMI, or the Initiative). The Initiative is intended to provide local water users with flexibility in exercising their existing water rights in exchange for restoring and protecting instream flows and water quality within the basin.