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Department of Ecology News Release - January 17, 2008
08-014
YAKIMA – A water agreement that could result in new water rights being issued from the Columbia River is now available for public review.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) and the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association (CSRIA) are proposing the “voluntary regional agreement” (VRA) as a way to provide new water for irrigation while at the same time protecting river flows.
The proposed VRA is the first regional water management agreement to be considered under Washington’s Columbia River water management program that seeks to develop new water supplies for both people and fish. It is the result of months of negotiations and consultation with regional tribes, fish agencies, county governments and watershed planners.
“This pilot VRA gives us the opportunity to test these new kinds of agreements, to determine how much water that the proposed conservation projects can produce and to put the new ‘saved’ water to use in the Columbia basin,” said Jay Manning, director of the Department of Ecology.
Under the proposal, irrigators will help pay for water conservation projects that in turn will allow Ecology to issue new water rights from the Columbia River. Provisions of the agreement require that new water withdrawals not reduce stream flows during the crucial months of July and August, when demand for water is at its greatest for farmers and fish.
To qualify for the program, irrigators must maintain and certify advanced water-efficiency standards, identify how much water they are saving through conservation and enroll that saved water into the state’s water trust program.
Farmers obtaining new water rights will pay an annual fee that will fund future conservation projects managed by the state. In exchange, irrigators may be issued new water rights that will not be interrupted.
CSRIA members whose existing water rights may be interrupted during drought years may be eligible for drought permits – water rights they can exercise when their current water use would otherwise be curtailed.
The draft VRA is available online at Ecology’s website, http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/cwp/crwmp.html. To obtain a hard copy of the draft VRA, please contact Wendy Valdez at (509) 454-4335 or wval461@ecy.wa.gov.
Comments on the proposed agreement will be accepted through Feb. 19, 2008. Submit comments to: LeAnn Purtzer, Water Resources Program, Department of Ecology, Central Region Office, 15 W. Yakima Ave, Suite 200, Yakima, WA 98902. Or via fax to (509) 575-2809 or by email to lesc461@ecy.wa.gov.
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Media contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, communications manager, (509) 575-2610
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
