Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Nov. 1, 1999

99-220

Contact: Jani Gilbert, Public Information Manager, 509-456-4464, pager, 509-622-1289

Lind man fined $67,200 for unauthorized water use

SPOKANE - Prompted by a complaint from a senior water-right holder, the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined an Adams County landowner $67,200 for using unauthorized water for irrigation.

Ecology issued the penalty last Friday to Raymond Jenkins of Lind. The action follows a cease-and-desist order that was issued last April, requiring him to stop irrigating more than the 130 acres for which he is authorized. Ecology investigators continued to observe unauthorized irrigation throughout 1999.

A Sept. 30 field investigation confirmed that four fields were still being irrigated, while Jenkins was authorized to irrigate only two. All four fields, in potatoes and corn, were ready for harvest, indicating the fields had been watered all season.

Jenkins' farm is located within the "Odessa sub-area," one of only three specially designated sub-areas in the state. The ground water in the Odessa sub-area is managed more closely because of documented declines in the water tables. The other two sub-areas in Washington are the Quincy sub-area and the smaller Duck Lake sub-area in Okanogan County.

"In recent years, our field investigators have seen farm acreage expanding into barren land, especially in the Odessa sub-area," said George Schlender, a water resources manager in Spokane. "We are not issuing new water rights out there, so we know that expanded irrigation is likely unauthorized irrigation."

Historically, Ecology has not had the staff to enforce water law. However, the legislature last year provided Ecology with additional staff specifically for that purpose.

"We've been focusing on the Odessa sub-area because we need to respond to complaints of senior water-right holders," Schlender said. "We need to protect those rights and manage the groundwater declines."

The ground water in the Odessa sub-area is managed under a regulation that has been in place since the early 1970s to ensure the water table does not fall more than 300 feet below the level it was at in the spring of 1967. The regulation provides for more oversight in the area to protect senior water rights from unauthorized groundwater withdrawals.

Jenkins may file an "application for relief" from the penalty with Ecology within 15 days, or he may file an appeal within 30 days with the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board.