County water conservancy board gets green light from ecology department
By John Henderer ,The Chronicle , 7/17/98
Lewis County won approval last week to form a water conservancy board, one of two pilot projects under the state Department of Ecology.
Commissioners asked Ecology for permission in May to form the board, acting on a petition from Moerke and Sons Pump and Drilling Inc. of Chehalis.
The conservancy board will help facilitate water transfers that have been bogged down at Ecology. The agency has a backlog of more than 6,000 petitions for transfers.
Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons cautioned the county that the board's scope will be limited and may be disappointing to Lewis County," he said in a July 10 letter to county Commission Chairman Russ Wigley.
Water rights are required for any single user demanding more than 5,000 gallons of water a day. A single-family home does not require water rights because most use less than 500 gallons a day.
Transfers are important in the Chehalis River Basin because Ecology is not granting any new applications. An assessment found existing rights already claim 300 percent of the basin's available water.
The conservancy board would process uncontested water-rights transfers. Ecology officials would have 45 days to accept, refuse or modify the board's recommendation.
In his letter, Fitzsimmons listed a raft of legal caveats that may limit the conservancy board's authority, but he said Ecology would be "more than willing" to discuss changes to last year's legislation allowing creation of the boards.
In addition, as a pilot project, the county will help Ecology write rules to govern future conservancy boards around the state.
As one of the conditions, a conservancy board can only recommend approval of water-right transfers that have been used actively within the last five years.
Under state law, water rights are not guaranteed for perpetuity if they're not used.
"If you haven't used that water for five years or more consistently, then you lose the right to use that water," said Ecology spokeswoman Mary Getchell.
The board cannot approve petitions for a change of purpose from agricultural use to residential. Nor can it approve petitions for a change in the withdrawal point from a river.
A 1983 Supreme Court opinion also prohibits transfers that would expand the total acreage irrigated, except for a "narrow exception" that allows it to be transferred to new land.
Applicants for water rights changes cannot lose their place in line to an application filed later for use from the same source, Fitzsimmons said.
Nonetheless, Ecology will try to identify and resolve conflicts with applications filed earlier, he said.
Board members must complete 40 hours of Ecology-sponsored training in water law, hydrology and water-right transfer processing.
Ecology has tentatively scheduled a training session for county board members for the week of Oct. 5.
County commissioners have not selected members for the board. They could not be reached for comment.
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.