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Department of Ecology Press Release - September 28, 2005
05-239
YAKIMA - Nearly 1,000 surface water users in the Yakima Basin are about to be notified by the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) that they will now need to measure how much water they use.
Earlier this month, Yakima County Superior Court ordered that all water diverted from the Yakima River and its tributaries be measured. Ecology is administering the measuring program and will notify the water users by mail.
The court is wrapping up a long case that will establish surface water rights in the Yakima River basin. Currently, only irrigation districts and large diverters are required to measure how much water they use, based on a 1994 court order. This new order requires all others to measure.
"It only makes sense that we know how much water is being diverted," said Bob Barwin, an Ecology water resources manager in Yakima. "The court recognizes that even small uses matter. Accumulatively, those small diversions add up to a large amount of water."
Together, small water uses add up to a diversion of approximately 3,960 acre-feet per day, or 897,600 gallons per minute, from the Yakima River system.
Water measurements will help to ensure water users are within their rights, and that efforts designed to ease drought conditions and improve stream flows don't disrupt senior water rights.
The order immediately affects surface water users whose rights have been confirmed in the adjudication. Water rights are still being adjudicated in five sub-basins. Under the court order, water users will be required to install meters and measure their water use as their rights are confirmed and conditional final orders are issued in these sub-basins.
The court has established a schedule for installing measuring devices. Mountain cabin owners and others who divert water at elevations greater than 2,000 feet have until April 1, 2007, to install meters. All others will be required to install meters and begin measuring surface water diversions by April 1, 2006.
The order does not apply to surface water right users who receive irrigation water from an irrigation district that already measures and reports its diversions to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Grants covering up to 85 percent of the cost of purchasing, installing and calibrating flow measuring devices are available. This year, the state Legislature provided about $1.16 million to help pay for surface water metering.
More information on the installation schedule and how to apply for a grant is available online at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/measuring/measuringhome.html .
For more information or assistance, please call Ecology's Water Resources help desk at (509) 575- 2597.
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Media contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
