  |
|
|
Department of Ecology News Release - August 18, 2009
09-205
YAKIMA – Ecology will publish legal ads in three Central Washington newspapers notifying 6,630 lawsuit defendants of a court hearing on water right claims in the Yakima River Basin adjudication.
The legal notification ads are required by law. Publication will be Friday, Aug. 21, 2009. The ads are one of the final stages of the adjudication of surface water rights in the Yakima Basin lawsuit begun Oct. 13, 1977. Ecology vs. Acquavalla required everyone who claimed a right to surface water in the Yakima River Basin to file and defend their claims before the Yakima County Superior Court.
A water rights adjudication is a legal procedure to determine who has a valid water right, who has first priority to water during shortages, and how much water can be used. The Yakima adjudication has brought certainty to the ownership, management and marketing of thousands of water rights on the Yakima River and its tributaries in Kittitas, Yakima, Klickitat and Benton counties.
“You can’t manage and protect what you can’t define,” said Ben Bonkowski, adjudications manager for Ecology. The adjudication has benefited cities, farmers, the Yakama Nation, federal government, business and industry.
The ads announcing a “Motion for Default Order and Entry of Default Judgment” will be published Friday, Aug. 21, 2009, in the Tri-City Herald, the Yakima Herald-Republic and the Ellensburg Daily Record. The defendants listed in the ads are those who did not respond to the original 1977 Yakima County Superior Court summons to claim surface water in the Yakima Basin. Anyone on the list who doesn’t step forward at an Oct. 8, 2009, court hearing may be found in default of the 1977 summons and lose any claim or right to the use of surface waters of the Yakima Basin.
The state of Washington will also incur costs for mailing notices to more than 2,000 addresses. Ecology is required by law to notify those named in the default motion.
The Yakima Surface Water Rights Adjudication began 32 years ago to resolve conflicts over water use in the Yakima Basin. It is the largest and most complex adjudication in state history involving:
The final court decree in the adjudication is not expected until at least 2010 and is contingent on the outcome of water right appeals in Subbasin 23, the last of 31 subbasins to be adjudicated.
###
Media Contacts:
Dan Partridge, 360-407-7139; cell, 360-480-5722
dpar461@ecy.wa.gov
Ben Bonkowski, 360-407-6603;
bbon461@ecy.wa.gov
Map of the Yakima subbasins: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/rights/Images/pdf/adjudication_mc_sub_map.pdf
Frequently asked questions on the Yakima adjudication Motion for Default Judgment: www.ecy.wa.gov/biblio/0911022.html
Water right general adjudications in Washington state: www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/rights/adjhome.html
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
