Source: Focus No. 99-1820 WR
Wa. Dept. of Ecology
Background
In November 1999, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) adopted final rules for establishing and operating county water conservancy boards. These boards are county-level special purpose governments, which can be established by county legislative authorities to process applications to change existing water rights.
Ecology sees conservancy boards as important partners in addressing the agency's enormous backlog of water right applications. About twenty-five percent of the agency's backlog of almost 7,000 application are for changes to existing rights. Conservancy boards can process only change applications, so they do not need to wait until applications for new water rights are addressed before processing the change requests.
Applications for new water rights often precede change applications in line for processing within a geographic area and, because all applications usually must be processed in the order in which they are filed, Ecology is all too often at a standstill while it resolves whether water is available for new uses. The unfortunate reality is--despite the state being known for its rain--unallocated water is increasingly unavailable where and when it is needed.
The Washington Legislature passed the bill authorizing water conservancy boards in I 997. The Governor vetoed a portion of the bill; the remaining language is now in statute as Chapter 90.80 RCW. This law gives counties the authority to establish the conservancy boards, which consist of three commissioners. The boards make "conditional" decisions on water right change applications, and Ecology is required by the law to review and either approve, modify or reverse the boards' conditional decisions. Ecology was also given the authority to adopt rules to implement the statute, including minimum requirements for training and continuing education of conservancy board members.
Governor Locke directed Ecology to begin a pilot rule-making to develop guidelines for establishing and operating water conservancy boards. Ecology approved boards in Benton and Lewis counties to operate under and "test" the pilot rule. Subsequently, a number of additional boards have been approved by Ecology; currently these include boards in Adams, Chelan, Franklin, Grant, Klickitat, Lincoln, Thurston, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties.
In late 1998, Ecology conducted two workshops to solicit comments on the draft pilot rules. The department revised the draft proposal based on the comments received, and filed the rule proposal in June 1999. Ecology held two public hearings in July and obtained formal testimony on the proposal; the agency also received a number of written comments on the rules. After extensive review of the comments, which resulted in a number of changes to the proposal, Ecology adopted the final rules on November 15, 1999. The rules will take effect on December 15, 1999.
Changes to the Proposed Rules
Based on the public comments, Ecology made a number of relatively minor changes to the proposed rules, primarily to clarify aspects of the language. (A number of these efforts to improve the clarity of the rules were initiated internally.) Many of these changes had to do with making specific instructions to conservancy boards more clear, generally in regard to elements of reviewing change applications. Also, Ecology deleted several definitions because they were superfluous, and added two new definitions.
Ecology also made changes to the rules to encourage water conservancy boards to engage other entities with water-related concerns when the boards are reviewing applications and making their conditional decisions. A number of people noted in their comments that there was no explicit language in the proposal linking water conservancy boards to watershed planning, although watershed planning (through local watershed planning units) is a major emphasis in Ecology's current approach to water management. The agency added language to the rule in a number of places to address this. Ecology also added language encouraging conservancy boards to engage Indian tribes and other governments in their effort to obtain information about applications and make decisions concerning them.
Other comments focused on ensuring that environmental values are protected, and on ensuring that senior water rights, as well as senior applications, are protected as well. Ecology also received comments stressing the importance of boards being accessible to public scrutiny. The agency has added language to the rules to strongly encourage boards to attend to these issues.
Responsiveness Summary Available
As required by the Administrative Procedures Act, Ecology has prepared a document providing written responses to all comments received within the formal comment period. This document, titled the Concise Explanatory Statement Regarding Changes to the Proposed Rules and Responsiveness Summary, Chapter 173-153 WAC, Water Conservancy Boards, states how Ecology changed, or why it did not change, the rules in response to comments it received.
The Responsiveness Summary also gives specific explanations for all changes to the rules that were not simply editing changes; the final rule language is included as an appendix. The document will be sent to all individuals who commented on the proposed rules within the formal comment period.
Copies of the Responsiveness Summary and the final rules are available by contacting Thom Lufkin at (360) 407-663 1; by e-mail at tlhw461@ecy.wa.gov; or by writing to: Thom Lufkin, Water Resources Program, Department of Ecology, PO Box 47600, Olympia, Washington 98504-7600. The rule is also posted on Ecology's web site at:
http://www.wa.ecy.wa.gov/leg/wac_173153/x9811ab.pdf
For more information
Contact Peggy Clifford at (3 60) 407-7262, or by e-mail at: pcli461@ecy.wa.gov
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