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Department of Ecology News Release - December 23, 2002
02-234
YAKIMA - After a thorough review, the Department of Ecology has OK'd most of a water-right transfer request that will allow the DeVries Dairy of Moxee to legally operate year round.
An agreement with the DeVries also settles other disputes relating to their operations, metering of their water, and other lawsuits. The dairy will pay a $10,000 penalty for using the water without a valid water right.
The agency's Water Resources Program has been reviewing a request to change some of the property's seasonal irrigation water rights to year-round use at the dairy. Earlier this year, the agency reversed a decision by the Yakima County Conservancy Board, citing numerous problems with the request. The DeVries appealed the reversal to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
"A main concern was just how much water had been historically used on the property," explained Bob Barwin, water resources manager in Yakima. "After studying aerial photographs and reviewing other records, it was clear that some of the water on the former Griswold property had not been used for more than five consecutive years."
The decision approves a water right totaling 561.5 acre-feet per year for the dairy operation and for irrigation. The amount is about 133 acre-feet less than originally claimed by the dairy. Of the total, some 200 acre-feet of the rights are earmarked for year-round dairy use.
"Water decisions are rarely simple," Barwin noted. "This one was made more complex given the history of prior water-right changes and that the dairy began operation before it was entitled to use the water year-round."
In making water-right transfer decisions, the agency must ascertain how much water has historically been used under the rights and be sure the change in use will not impair other water rights. The agency concluded that 561.5 acre-feet per year was consistent with historic practices at the farm, and transferring 200 acre-feet of this amount to year-round dairy use would not impair existing water rights.
As part of the settlement, the DeVries will pay $10,000 in fines for operating the dairy without a valid water right. They also will end an appeal of Ecology's spring 2001 cease-and-desist order limiting DeVries to 5,000 gallons per day for dairy purposes. DeVries' legal suit claimed a right to unlimited stock water for the dairy. Last year, the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board ruled the dairy was limited to a single withdrawal of 5,000 gallons per day.
The public will have 30 days to appeal the water-rights decision to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager (509) 575-2610, or pager (509) 574-0490
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
