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Department of Ecology News Release - December 21, 2007
07-377
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire is asking the 2008 Legislature to approve funding for a groundwater study to better understand and manage water supplies in Kittitas County.
The Governor is seeking $683,000 in her operating and capital budgets for the study. Her request comes as the state Department of Ecology and Kittitas County continue to negotiate a management plan to protect senior water rights and reduce the impact of exempt wells on future water supplies in the Yakima Basin.
“Water supply in Kittitas County and the Yakima Basin is extremely limited, and the groundwater study will give us a better understanding of the steps we have to take to protect the region’s water resources and senior water users now and in the future,” Gov. Gregoire said.
Exempt wells are those that do not require a water right permit from Ecology but are subject to other provisions of state water law. For example, their use must not impair senior water rights. Ecology and the county developed an interim water management agreement after local citizens petitioned the department, seeking a temporary moratorium on exempt wells in Kittitas County.
Ecology and the county signed the joint interim agreement in November as an alternative to the moratorium requested by the group called Aqua Permanente.
Ecology is concerned that holders of senior water rights in the Yakima Basin are at risk of losing their water in drought years because of the proliferation of exempt wells in the region.
Population growth in Kittitas County is double the state average. Nearly 1,000 new homes have been built since 2004 with exempt wells. Home buyers relying on exempt wells are also at risk of having their water supply cut off in drought years.
The groundwater study will help Ecology better understand underground (groundwater) sources in western portions of Kittitas County not fully covered by current U.S. Geological Survey research.
State Reps. Bill Hinkle and Judy Warnick of the 13th Legislative District wrote the Governor asking that she request funding for the groundwater study.
“I’ve been talking with the director (of Ecology) this past year, even before the petition, to get money for the groundwater study which I think is a critical piece of future water resources management in Kittitas County,” Rep. Hinkle said.
Rep. Warnick said the groundwater study will help accomplish two objectives in Kittitas County.
“We need to protect the senior water right holders who are already in place, and just as importantly we need to protect the economic vitality of Kittitas County,” Rep. Warnick said.
The Legislature will consider funding for the Kittitas groundwater study and other budgetary matters in the 2008 session beginning Jan. 14 in Olympia.
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Media Contact: Dan Partridge, Department of Ecology; e-mail: dpar461@ecy.wa.gov
For more information: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cro/kittitas_wp.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
