Watershed Management Plan Objective #1

The Partnership recommends that the state make it clear to water rights applicants that there are flexible strategies for meeting their water rights needs given the hydraulic continuity is an issue

1. Partnering with WDOE in issuing and transferring water rights

· Request that WDOE develop a mitigation policy

· Assess current instream flow rules and current legal framework (case law) to see if we can use mitigation flow strategies.

· Workshop(s)/brainstorm with agencies/others on what should and can be done for mitigation strategies

o For instance, Allow out-of-kind mitigation (watershed mitigation) for new or changed water rights

o Explore developing a water bank or trust

· Produce report and/or documentation for mitigation strategies

· Go to the "state" (agency or legislature) to ask that these strategies be used

· Change instream flow rules to utilize mitigation strategies if needed

· Develop a monitoring plan to determine success of mitigation strategies (umbrella monitoring plan)

· Public outreach to promote strategies

Begin Implementation................ 2007

Responsibility............................ CBP Steering Technical Committee/Water Quantity Workgroup

Leadership................................ Department of Ecology Water Resources Program (Steve Craig and Jill Walsh), Department of Health (Karen Klocke), Department of Fish and Wildlife (Steve Boessow and Chad Stussy), Cities (Kahle Jennings to help organize)

Resources Needed

· Agency and local government staff time

· Facilitator for discussions

· Grant funding

· Commitment of agency heads

· Legal counsel/advisor

2. Measuring to manage water quantity

· Conduct a groundwater study that provides the information necessary to address the hydraulic continuity issue. This study would provide specific information about the character of the groundwater throughout the Chehalis Basin that would allow decision-makers to better answer the questions: Will an individual water right application impact stream flows? (For example: Will an individual water right application impact stream flows? Could a strategic groundwater-pumping schedule be developed for a particular site that would delay the impact on the river until the high flow period?)

· Scope out what questions we want answered and determine what has already been done.

· Prioritize the subbasins before initiation of the study.

· Develop a cost analysis to perform the work on a subbasin level

· Identify potential sources of funding to cover the cost of the analysis

Begin Implementation................ 2006