RCW 90.90.020(c)
requires the Department of Ecology to
develop new water supplies for interruptible water right holders
on the mainstem of the Columbia River who are subject to subject
to instream flow requirements or "other mitigation conditions to
protect stream flows." There are 379 water rights holders on the
mainstem who are subject to instream flow requirements. One
other
user, Quad Cities, is interruptible due to stream flow
requirements set by the Biological Opinion for the Federal
Columbia River Power System (
FCRPS
BiOp).
Water for Drought Relief
Water from the Drought Insurance Program will be used to
provide drought relief to interruptible water right holders.
Drought relief water will come from the Lake Roosevelt
Supplemental Releases Project and from drought-specific
emergency leases. The amount of water provided to each
interruptible water right holder is dependent on the severity of
the drought , the number of drought permits submitted, and the
amount of water available from temporary emergency leases.
Under the
Lake
Roosevelt Supplemental Releases Project, OCR
contracted with the US. Bureau of Reclamation to release
33,000 additional ac-ft of water from Lake Roosevelt in
drought years. This water will be allocated to all interruptible water users
who apply for drought relief and will increase the water
available for use by approximately 11%.
During the 2001 drought, the Department of Ecology provided
drought relief by: leasing 40,000 acre-feet of water from the
Bonneville Power Administration. Ecology also issuied an emergency measure
called an "overriding consideration of public interest" (OCPI)
under
RCW 90.54.020(3)(a) to reduce instream flow requirements.
The 2001 strategy worked well. OCR will employ it in future
droughts.
A Permanent Solution: Turning Interruptible Water
Rights Into Full Water Rights
OCR is working with the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife, tribes, environmental groups, and other interested
parties to develop an "out of kind mitigation" policy to provide
a reliable, uninterruptible supply of water to interruptible
water right holders. The policy would allow environmental
improvements like habitat protection to be employed as
mitigation to offset water use. Water acquired under this policy
would be used to turn interruptible water rights into full water
rights. The vast majority of interruptible water rights use
relatively little water. OCR will target those first in order to
cut the number of water rights requiring relief in drought
years.
Quad Cities/Ecology Cooperative Agreement
On December 12, 2011, the Office of Columbia River entered into an agreement
with City of Kennewick, City of Pasco, City of Richland, and City of West
Richland (Quad Cities) to provide over 4,000 acre-feet of water from the
Lake
Roosevelt Incremental Storage Releases Project. Prior to the agreement, the Quad Cities permit
was interruptible under the
Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion
(commonly referred to as the BiOp).
RCW 90.90.020(3)(c) requires OCR to find "new uninterruptible supply of water for
the holders of interruptible water rights on the Columbia river mainstem that are subject to instream flows
or other mitigation
conditions to protect stream flows..." Permits subject to
instream flows, either adopted in rule (WAC
173-563) or conditioned specifically in permits (see
Quad Cities permit), number approximately 400 water right holders. Because
the Quads mitigation requirement is permit-based, it requires a tailored
strategy, which is the subject of both a
2003
and 2011 Agreement.
More about the Quad Cities/Ecology Cooperative Agreement...
More Information
Locations of interruptible water right holders on the Columbia River mainstem.
BiOp and instream flow requirements compared to low flow years
(measured at McNary Dam).
