I want to develop an agency level summary for these two items, as well as meet the Governor's Office

Curt Hart

Informations

• Publié par: Choud
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English

Extrait

Achievements and Challenges for 20052006 Water Resources Program Achievements Led state response efforts for the 2005 drought emergency to help keep water flowing for Washington agribusiness, public water suppliers, and fish and wildlife:  Effectivelymonitored state watersupply conditions and provided critical, timely information to Gov. Gregoire regarding whether to authorize a drought emergency declaration.Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency March 10.  Distributed$7.2 million in emergency drought funding to various public agricultural and municipal water suppliers, state Fish and Wildlife Department and kept $1 million to acquire water this spring in the lower Yakima basin to offset effects of deepwell pumping in 2005.  Processed142 droughtrelated waterright requests and was an active member in a special water transfer working group that determined how to review and process another 47 surface waterright transfer requests in the Yakima basin.  Leasedsix area water rights to keep water flowing for the town of Roslyn during the drought, avoiding having town’s water supplies interrupted.  Conductedextensive media and community outreach campaign throughout drought emergency and provided timely information to key water uses and general public regarding water conservation and state drought response. Set instream flows in state watersheds to protect resources that depend on adequate flows and worked to start setting flows in nearly 20 more river basins:  Adoptedfirst instream flow rule for the Entiat watershed, including creating a reserve of water for future domestic, commercial irrigation and light industrial uses.  Adoptedfirst instream flow rule for the Stillaguamish watershed, including creating a reserve of water for future domestic, small business and livestock watering uses.  Recommendedamending existing instream flow rule for Upper/Lower Skagit to provide for future agricultural, domestic and industrial uses.  Providedcritical support and expertise to 19 local watershed planning groups likely to recommend that Ecology set instream flows by 2007. Significantly reduced waterright change application backlog and slightly exceeded fouryear goal of processing at least 2,000 change requests:

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 Despitebeing flanked by two statewide drought emergencies in 2001 and 2005, and striving to meet significant changes to state water law, Water Resources slightly exceed its fouryear goal of processing at least 2,000 waterright change applications since July 1, 2001.  Processed2,008 change applications and 638 new applications from July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2005.  Completeddecisions on 373 change and 139 new waterright applications from January 1 through September 30, 2005. Challenges for 2006 Successfully implement Ecology’sfouryear water management strategy Population growth is putting an increasing demand and strain on the state’sfinite water supplies. State laws and rules provide some flexibility about how we manageWashington’s most valuable natural resource. However, experience has demonstrated that lawmakers, key interest groups and the general public all can have very different ideas about how Ecology should manage state water supplies. Therefore, we need to be innovative and flexible regarding how we proceed. Ideas include:  Determiningthe best way to set and achieve instream flowsin the state’s 62 watersheds.  Managingwater in the Columbia River in a manner that protects fish and provides future water for farms and communities.  Implementingeffective water storage, conservation and reuse projects.  Puttingin place a solid framework for working collaboratively with Indian tribes and federal agencies that hold rights to significant amounts of water. Address how climate change should influence how Water Resources manages Washington’s critical water supplies We know that global climate change is occurring rapidly in the Pacific Northwest. Federal and state experts are just beginning to understand how significantly Washington’s water supplies might be affected by warming temperatures and a shrinking mountain snowpack. Our challenge is how we adapt this knowledge to our existing water management programs. Complete Yakima River basin waterright adjudication Since 1977, Ecology has been working with the Yakima County Superior Court to determine the legal extent and validity of all the surface waterright claims, permits and certificates in the Yakima basin.The adjudication now is nearly 95 percent complete. Unfortunately, Judge Walter Stauffacher, who had been working on the adjudication for more 20 years, just recently passed away. The court is expected to complete the evidentiary phase of this 30year legal proceeding during the current biennium.

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