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Washington Environmental Council pushes for well metering for everyone 9/02 The Washington Department of Ecology is now holding a series of statewide hearings and taking public comment on a new rule to implement the state's water metering law (see dates/times below). As we've all been reminded by this year's drought, our state's ability to provide enough water to satisfy the competing demands of agriculture, industry, recreation, hydropower, fish and wildlife, and other uses is being stretched to the limit. Metering (shorthand for measuring, recording and reporting) water use is the key to our ability to know how much water people are using, whether they are taking more than they are legally entitled to use, implement effective water conservation programs, and effectively manage this precious resource. Environmentalists' legal victory forces the action A policy worth supporting - but two key problems need fixing First, while the proposed rule requires water users to measure and record their water use, at this time it does not require the water users to report those measurements to Ecology. Recording the information does not do anyone any good unless that information is made available to the agency and the public to make sure that they are only using what they are legally entitled to. Second, while the proposed rule requires metering of groundwater use in watersheds where salmon and steelhead are at the greatest risk, it does not require metering of ground water use in other areas. Because ground water pumping often impacts stream flows in the same basin, and because it's just as important to protect stream flows and groundwater supplies in watersheds where salmon runs are healthy as where salmon are in trouble, the new rule should require metering of ground water use throughout the state. Public comment hearing details: Tuesday, Sept. 4, Tacoma Wednesday, Sept. 5, Bellingham Tuesday, Sept. 11, Walla Walla Wednesday, Sept. 12, Yakima Thursday, Sept. 13, Wenatchee Monday, Sept. 17, Sequim Deadline for written comments is September 24, 2001 @ 5:00 pm Mail or fax written comments to the following address or fax number: Jeff Marti Washington Department of Ecology PO Box 47600 Olympia, WA 98504-7600 FAX (360) 407-6574 For more metering information and the actual text of the rule, check Ecology's website. Key Points for Your Testimony: In addition to the basic information above, some key points you can make when you testify at one of the hearings or write a letter include: * Metering water use is essential to implementing water conservation, regulating unauthorized use, restoring instream flows, and otherwise managing this increasingly scarce resource. Metering is the first and most basic step in making rational choices about whether and where to issue new water rights. * Generally, I support the proposed new metering rule, but the rule needs to be improved by requiring that reporting begin immediately and by requiring that ground water be metered through out the state, not just where salmon and steelhead are in trouble. * The legislature has given Ecology broad authority to require metering of groundwater use throughout the state. Ecology owes it to the people of Washington to use that authority to protect fish and wildlife and all the law-abiding people who use water in compliance with their permits. * It is important to have water users begin reporting their water use now. Reporting now will help document trends in water use that will be helpful to resource managers in the future, such as identifying those who consistently use more than they have a right to. Even if it may take Ecology some time to set up a data management system, watershed planning groups, environmental organizations, Indian tribes, and citizen activists can start using the information today. * Metering is vital to Ecology's ability to curtail illegal or excessive water use. Water metering benefits and has been endorsed by water users who follow the law. For example, Yakima River basin irrigators long ago endorsed universal water metering. * This rule is important for the economy. Salmon are one of this state's most valuable economic resources. Washington's fishing families and their jobs depend on keeping enough water in our rivers for fish to survive. Our ability to build new housing and attract new industrial development also depends on our ability to know whether or not there is enough water available to support that new development without hurting existing water users, recreational values, and fish and wildlife. * Considering the economic benefit water rights holders derive from their free use of the public's water supply, it's really very little to ask them to account for how much they're using. * Depleted streamflows are a major factor contributing to the decline of salmon stocks throughout the state. In some parts of the state, salmon streams actually run dry in the summer, leaving fish stranded in pools or on dry ground where they die from heat, predators, or the lack of water. Hundreds of streams in the state currently have salmonid stocks designated as depressed or critical in part because of inadequate instream flows. In order to solve this problem, we need to know how much water people are using. Metering is an important part of restoring our threatened salmon and steelhead. * Metering provides the users themselves with information necessary
for them to comply with their permits, be more efficient and implement
effective conservation strategies. Metering not only gives water users
the information they need to be more efficient, it's also a fairness
issue - it prevents people who comply with their permits from being
put at an economic disadvantage to those who don't. |