County pushes for water rights

This article appeared in the Port Townsend Leader's October 26, 2005 edition. Although it's pretty short, it represents the start of discussion of the issue in the pages of our most local newspaper.

There's an interesting comment from the Department of Ecology's Curt Hart, who says that Ecology wants to work with local residents and officials to figure out where to set instream flow levels. Perhaps the time to have done that was immediately after the first public workshop they held here on the proposed rule. There were plenty of us questioning both the provisions and the assertions contained in that draft. Looking at the current draft, there's certainly not much evidence that the DOE has been overly willing to work with our residents to this point, beyond putting the rule-making process into what we are now given to understand is "indefinite" hold status.

Perhaps we're getting to a point where they are becoming willing to actually come out and work with those who have the local knowledge in context? We can only hope that's the case. Should we hold our breath?

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By Kasia Pierzga
Leader Staff Writer

County officials are hoping to put the brakes on proposed state regulation of water use in East Jefferson County by calling for more research on how the use of groundwater affects salmon streams.

In a policy statement approved Monday, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners called for better communications between the state Department of Ecology and a county group charged with developing recommendations to ensure there is enough water in local streams to preserve salmon runs.

Commissioner Pat Rodgers said he's frustrated with DOE for moving ahead with proposed water-use restrictions without what he considers conclusive supporting information.

"It's outrageous in my mind that we would abdicate the absolute rights of individuals on a hunch," he said. "we're hoping the DOE will do things that are necessary to determine what the facts are. Then we can come to a reasonable conclusion."

Robert Greenway, co-owner of Corona Farm in Port Townsend, praised the commissioners for taking action.

"I'm a passionate supporter of salmon and salmon streams," he said, "But we're worried that we would be controlled right out of business."

Ecology spokesman Curt Hart said DOE officials want to work with local residents and officials to figure out where to set in-stream flow levels.

"Can we make everybody happy? Probably not," he said. "But we can work with a broad cross-section of people to come up with the best possible solutions."

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