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Department of Ecology News Release - October 29, 2002
02-199
OLYMPIA - From July through September 2002, the Department of Ecology (Ecology) processed another 112 requests for water-right changes, thereby trimming the backlog of 2,000 change applications that were filed before 2001 by nearly one-third over the last 15 months.
Since the legislature increased funding and provided the agency with greater flexibility to process water-right change applications beginning in July 2001, Ecology has processed 568 change requests across the state.
During that same time period, an average of about 15 new change applications were submitted to the department each month. Some of them have been processed already, adding to the 568 total.
"For the first time in a decade, we are able to process more applications that we receive, and that is paying dividends for farmers, businesses and other water users, as well as the environment," said Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons. "We are making many more decisions about proposals to move existing water rights to new locations and for new uses - all without pulling more water out of our rivers, lakes and aquifers.
"As the backlog is reduced, the timeliness of our decisions is also improving," he said, adding the department is closely engaged in a number of other long-standing water-management issues, including the Columbia River Regional Initiative and local watershed planning activities.
Of the 112 water-right change requests processed between July and September 2002, 62 were approved, 15 denied and another 35 were withdrawn by applicants. Ecology also processed 54 applications for new water rights, approving approximately 16 percent.
During the same three-month period last year, the department processed 49 water-right change applications. From 1995 through 2000, Ecology processed an average of 120 change requests a year - rates too slow to keep up with submitted proposals let alone reduce the backlog of 2,000 applications.
In 2001, the legislature addressed the application backlog by increasing the agency's funding and creating a new "two-line" system that puts requests for water-right changes in one line and requests to make new water withdrawals in another. Previously, Ecology was legally obligated to treat all applications the same way, in the order received.
Lawmakers also gave the department greater authority to move past applications at the head of the line that were not ready to proceed.
By expanding the agency's budget by about $5.6 million for the 2001-03 biennium, Ecology increased the number of staff devoted to processing water-right applications from about 20 to nearly 50 statewide - 39 of whom work solely on water-right changes.
The department is focusing its change-application work in the following watersheds:
Western Washington
Deschutes, Elwha-Dungeness, Island, Kitsap, Lower Chehalis, Lower Skagit, Nisqually, Nooksack, Quilcene-Snow, San Juan, Upper Chehalis
Eastern Washington
Esquatzel-Coulee, Kettle, Lower Crab, Methow, Middle Snake, Palouse, Upper Crab-Wilson, Upper Lake Roosevelt, Upper Yakima, Walla Walla
Contact: Curt Hart, Public Information Manager, 360-407-7139; pager, 360-971-9610
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/wrhome.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
