| Clallam: Commissioners in no hurry to act on watershed plan The public process on a controversial water plan will sound a lot more like ``drip, drip, drip'' than ``whoosh,'' Clallam County commissioners indicated Monday. Reviewing the status of the Elwha-Dungeness Watershed Plan, they adopted a timetable that will trickle into February. As proposed by Cynthia Nelson of the state Department of Ecology, the time will be spent soliciting comments from Clallam County's partner governments in the plan for Water Resource Inventory Area 18 (WRIA 18), which embraces the county's two most-populous drainage basins. Following that process, vested interests in water issues -- such as well drillers, homebuilders, and Realtors -- would be asked for their input. Essentially, the schedule gives all parties another chance to examine the plan and suggest changes to it. County water policy The plan would guide the county's water policy, including local government's privilege to grant well rights in the region. Interested parties have already had four years to involve themselves with the process, Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles, said Monday. But Commissioner Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness, said it was the legislative agency -- the county -- that naturally caught most of the controversy. Tharinger urged water planners to solicit comments from ``those folks who felt they were excluded from the plan, those really critical interest groups who are really impacted.'' ``Where the water meets the tap is where we should start focusing,'' he said. Anne Soule, groundwater specialist with Clallam County Health and Human Services, agreed. "I think it is very important to open up communication again," she said. Soule, who has been a prime planner of WRIA 18, added: "we need to get some more ears out there to hear." "Consensus on the plan is vital if it is not to be tied up in litigation or to be forsaken by the governments and agencies, which have worked for years to draft it. Tharinger noted that there has been no comment on WRIA 18 from Sequim officials, and said it is important to contact the city and involve it. Opposition from PUD Tharinger's commissioner district includes the Sequim Dungeness valley. "I think the Sequim Chamber of Commerce also needs to be hooked up, and Sequim Rotary, and Sequim Realtors," he said. Tharinger also cited opposition from the Clallam County Public Utility District. The PUD has been asked to provide water service to areas outside Port Angeles and Sequim, but it has urged the county to delay WRIA 18. "One of the reasons we are doing this is to get water rights for their systems," Tharinger said. "That doesn't seem to sink in." Soule noted that other "initiating governments"---The City of Port Angeles, Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, Jamestown S'Klallam tribe, and Agnew Irrigation Districts---"have been off the hook for some time now" as far as controversy was concerned. Doherty said they should be brought together and refreshed on the issue that has drawn hundreds of citizens to public hearings hosted by the county. Priorities set Commissioners set these priorities for steps in the remaining public process. * Update initiating governments and participating planning agencies on WRIA 18. * Meet with vested interests and solicit their ideas. * List issues raised by interested individuals groups and individuals, and address these concerns. * Host working sessions on the technical, policy and legal issues of the plan, including the regions future water supply, in-stream flow recommendations for salmon habitat and water rights. If the county finishes garnering support for WRIA 18 by February, said Nelson, it should be able to move toward and October 31, 2005, deadline for approval, followed by 180 more days for more public hearings, and adoption in the spring of 1006.
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