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PRELIMINARY PROPOSALS
ECOLOGY OVERSTEPS ECOLOGY’S PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL STANDARDS CURTAIL EXEMPT-WELL USAGE BY MORE THAN 80%
The Washington state Department of Ecology (Ecology) will be accepting preliminary public comments on its Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIA) 1 Nooksack rule until May 10, us// JOSIE CUMMINGS ing them to shape their REGULATORY AND proposed GOVERNMENT rulemaking AFFAIRS MANAGER scheduled to start late fall. WRIA 1 includes the Nooksack River basin and several adjoining smaller watersheds, such as the coastal drainages of Dakota and California creeks, as well as Lake Whatcom. As the now infamous Hirst decision originated out of this area, landowners will want to ensure their properties and future homes will have access to water. After the Hirst fix bill was approved by the legislature in early 2018, lawmakers required the Nooksack rule watershed planning be updated and meet standards such as net ecological benefit, estimates for future uses of wells, and identify shovel-ready projects that could be created to help with potential offsets. When the WRIA 1 watershed planning committee was unable to adopt a plan through con-
sensus and their recommendations were forwarded to Ecology for preliminary proposed rulemaking. Ecology incorporated some of these suggestions into their recommendations. However, Ecology’s preliminary language for the proposed rule drastically limits water use and will have a huge impact on new residential construction and the way of life for landowners who want to build homes for themselves and their families. Currently, homes on domestic permit-exempt wells (household wells or anything not on a water system) in open basins are allowed to use up to 3,000 gallons of water per day, up to a total of one-half acre of land. Ecology proposed new withdrawal standards state: n Withdrawals shall not exceed 500 gallons per day, up to a total of 1/12th of an acre n Upon the issuance of a drought emergency order, withdrawals shall be curtailed (but just how much is not mentioned) n Ecology reserves the right to require metering n Under all circumstances, water use limits shall not be exceeded These limits do not take into consideration that the average person uses between 80-100 gallons of water per day. Imagine a family of five building a home and being restricted to limited shower use, laundry duties, etc. Domestic wells equate for just 1 percent of the state’s water WRIA 1 aggregated subbasins within Whatcom and Skagit counties. use and this type of extreme regulation will hurt our rural communities and families who dream of building a single-family homes. BIAW is working with Building Industry Association of Whatcom County staff on drafting comments and will submit them to Ecology. We will continue to keep you updated on the preliminary proposed rulemaking process. If you are interested in submitting your comments to Ecology, please contact me at (360) 352-7800 or josiec@biaw.com.
MAY ’19
VOL. 29, ISSUE 5
