Columbia River Mainstem - Water Resources Information System

Overview

Washington State law Chapter 90.90 RCW, regarding water resource management in the Columbia River basin requires the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) to develop a Columbia River mainstem water resources information system by June 30, 2009. 

The “Columbia River Mainstem Water Resources Information System” web site represents the first phase in meeting that requirement and provides basic water right and water claim information along the mainstems of the Columbia River and Snake River as defined in RCW 90.90.030 (12).

The web site provides access through an interactive map to information maintained by Ecology as well as links to other water resource related information. This information includes:

• the mapped place of water use and water sources (existing and proposed) for water right certificates, water use permits, applications for water use, and claims of water use as described on the documents maintained by the Program;
• the authorized, claimed, or requested quantity of water (both current and annual) and number of irrigated acres;
• the purpose of water use, priority date or date of first use, as well as the name of record;
• images of many of the water resource documents;
• information regarding metering;
• information not maintained directly by the Water Resources Program such as flow data from stream gauging stations.

The web site will continue to evolve and the information in it will become more comprehensive as later phases of the web site are released.  Proposed future phases will include customized query and result functions for totaling water right and claim information by geographic areas such as by river pool or water resource inventory area (WRIA).  Water use through metering data and air photo analyses will also continue to be developed and provided.

Columbia River Mainstem Water Resources Information System