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Floodway

The Shoreline Management Act (SMA) (RCW 90.58.030(2)(g)) defines floodway.

• Floodway means the area, as identified in a master program, that either:

  1. Has been established in federal emergency management agency flood insurance rate maps or floodway maps, or

  2. Those portions of a river valley lying streamward from the outer limits of a watercourse upon which flood waters are carried during periods of flooding that occur with reasonable regularity, although not necessarily annually.
      

• The floodway is to be identified, under normal condition, by changes in surface soil conditions or changes in types of quality of vegetative ground cover condition, topography, or other indicators of flooding that occurs with reasonable regularity, although not necessarily annually.
   

• The floodway shall not include those lands that can reasonably be expected to be protected from flood waters by flood control devices maintained by or maintained under license from the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state.

For more information

Law: RCW 90.58.030(2)(g) (Definitions)
Rule: WAC 173-22-030(5)