Watershed Planning Grants

Focus No. 99-1228-SEA, June 1999

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• Background
• Watershed Planning Grants Under 90.82 RCW
• New Planning Units - Phase I Organizational Funding
• Assessment and Planning - Phase 2 and Phase 3 Funding

Background

Water is our state's most valuable natural resource. Ample, clean water is vital to the restoration and survival of our fisheries and for continued economic growth and development. However, our most valuable resource is threatened by pollution and supplies in many areas of the state are already overdrawn or dwindling rapidly. Increasing population growth is placing ever greater demands on our water resource.

In response, the 1998 legislature passed legislation 90.82 RCW, the Comprehensive Watershed Planning bill. The bill provides a framework for developing local solutions to water issues on a watershed basis.

Framed around watersheds or sub-watersheds known as Water Resources Inventory Areas (WRIAs), the comprehensive watershed planning process is designed to allow local citizens and local governments to join with tribes to form watershed management planning units to develop watershed management plans. State agencies provide technical assistance and if requested serve on the planning units.

Planning units organized under the legislation are required to do a detailed assessment of the planning area's current water supply and uses, and recommend long-term strategies to provide adequate water for fish and future growth. The planning units may also choose to develop strategies for improving water quality, for protecting or enhancing fish habitat, and, in collaboration with the Department of Ecology, may set minimum instream flows.

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Watershed Planning Grants Under 90.82 RCW

The 1998 state legislature appropriated $3.9 million to start the watershed planning process. Those funds, administered by Department of Ecology, were used to start watershed planning in 27 watersheds across the state.

The Department of Ecology has received $9 million in the 1999 legislative process to pass on to local planning efforts for the continued support of watershed planning. $4.5 million can be appropriated for each fiscal year. The new funds will be used to advance planning in watersheds that started in 1998, as well as to fund new watershed planning initiatives.

While there is a significant amount of money to support local watershed planning, the agency will be limited in the direct technical assistance that it will be able to provide.

Funding is available in three phases.

• Phase 1, The organizational phase . Initiating governments (through a designated lead agency) may apply for an initial organizing grant of up to $50,000 per WRIA or $75,000 for a multiple WRIA watershed management area to begin the local watershed planning effort.
• Phase 11, the assessment phase . Once the organizational phase is completed, a planning unit may apply for up to $200,000 per WRIA to fund watershed assessments.
• Phase 111, the planning phase. A planning unit may also apply for up to $250,000 per WRIA for the development of a Watershed Management Plan.

Priorities will be in the following order:

• Planning units moving from Phase I to Phase 2 who demonstrate a readiness to proceed within the biennium will be given the highest priority.
• Planning units moving from Phase 2 to Phase 3 who demonstrate a readiness to proceed within the biennium will be the second highest priority.
• The new planning units located in one of the 16 critical fish basins, identified in the Governor's Draft Salmon Recovery Plan, who meet the eligibility criteria outlined above will be the next highest priority.
• The next priority will be given to the eligible planning units located outside of a critical area that applied last year but did not receive funding.

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New Planning Units - Phase I Organizational Funding

Ap plications to initiate planning this fiscal year must be submitted by the lead agency. Applications must be postmarked by August 6, 1999. A second round of funding will occur in the second fiscal year.

Applications for grants must include proposals for conducting the water quantity component of a watershed plan. The water quality, habitat, and setting instream flow components of watershed planning are optional. However, the agency is encouraging planning units to do comprehensive watershed planning. If a planning unit decides to include the habitat component then they shall coordinate with the lead entity under the Salmon Recovery Act.

How to Get Started on Phase I

Planning under the Watershed Planning Act is for one or more WRIAs. All counties within the WRIA(s), the largest city or town within each WRIA, and the water utility obtaining the largest quantity of water within each WRIA must agree to start the watershed planning process. These entities are defined in the legislation as the "initiating governments."

If the initiating governments unanimously decide to pursue watershed planning under 90.82 RCW, they must then invite any tribe(s) with reservation lands within each WRIA to participate as an initiating government. These entities, including the tribe(s), if they choose to join the initiating governments, must then designate a "lead agency." The lead agency will submit the grant application to the department on behalf of the initiating governments.

Each lead agency applying for grants must provide evidence that it has been designated as a lead agency by the appropriate initiating governments. The lead agency must also show that all tribes that have reservation land within the WRIA(s) have been invited to participate as an initiating government.

Ranking New Phase 1 Grant Applications

• A watershed planning group or organization has been in existence for more than one year,
• The plan would address a watershed which has endangered/threatened and in which there is an inadequate water supply for future growth (one of the 16 critical basins identified in the Governor Draft Salmon Recovery Plan), and
• The watershed planning area includes more than one WRIA

The organizational requirements are:

• organize the planning unit and provide for representation of a wide range of water resource interests
• determine the scope of the planning to be conducted
• consider all existing plans and related planning activities in order to meet the requirements of RCW 90.82.030(3)
• work with state government, other local governments within the management area, and affected tribal governments, in developing a planning process

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Assessment and Planning - Phase 2 and Phase 3 Funding

Applicants for Phase 2 or Phase 3 dollars must submit a letter of intent by August 6, 1999. The letter of intent should indicate when the planning unit expects to be ready to move on to phase 2 or phase 3 in this fiscal year. If your watershed is not immediately ready to proceed to Phase 2 or 3, the letter of intent will be used by Ecology as a placeholder for this fiscal year. That is, Ecology will set aside funds until planning units are ready to proceed later in the fiscal year. A second round of funding will occur in the second fiscal year.

Readiness to Proceed

These applications will be evaluated for readiness to proceed by assessing the completion of tasks identified in the scope of work in Phase 1 and/or Phase 2 contract agreements with Ecology. The specific requirements identified in the legislation will also be used to determine readiness to proceed to the next stage of the grant program.

Planning units moving from Phase 1 to 2 or from Phase 2 to 3 must demonstrate that they have completed all or substantially all of the tasks outlined in their current contract with Ecology before receiving additional funding.

The technical assessment requirements are:

• Estimate of the surface and ground water present in the management area;
• Estimate of the surface and ground water available in the management area, taking into account seasonal and other variations;
• Estimate of the water in the management area represented by claims in the water rights claims registry, water use permits, certificated rights, existing minimum instream flow rules, federally reserved rights, and any other rights to water;
• Estimate of the surface and ground water actually being used in the management area;
• Estimate of the water needed in the future for use in the management area;
• Identification of the location of areas where aquifers are known to recharge surface bodies of water and areas known to provide for the recharge of aquifers from the surface; and
• Estimate of the surface and ground water available for further appropriation, taking into account the minimum instream flows adopted by rule or to be adopted by rule under this chapter for streams in the management area including the data necessary to evaluate necessary flows for fish.

The plan development requirements are:

The plan is to address the following strategies for increasing water supply with the objective of supplying water in sufficient quantities to satisfy instream flow for fish and to provide water for future out of stream use:

Water conservation

Water reuse

Use of reclaimed water

Voluntary water transfers

Aquifer recharge and recovery

Additional water allocations

Additional water storage and storage enhancement

If you would like to request a grant application, need technical assistance with the application or have any general questions on the grant program, please call Sue Simms at (360) 407-6491 or Teri Fisher at (360) 407-7232. This and other information is available on Ecology's homepage on the World Wide Web at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/

If you have special accommodation needs or require this document in an alternative format, please contact Tim Gates at (360) 407-7256 (Voice) or (360) 407-6006 (TDD).

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