State reverses position on use of exempt wells

http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=792&ArticleID=21234

This article appeared in the November 18 edition of the Capital Press.

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State reverses position on use of exempt wells

Cookson Beecher
Washington State Staff Writer

In a welcome about-face, a key official with Washington state’s Ecology Department has publicly stated that small-scale farmers may use existing exempt wells to irrigate.

Exempt wells, which are generally household wells, don’t need water-right permits. They may be used for such things as household use, watering lawns and gardens up to one-half acre in size and industrial use – as long as the amount of water used doesn’t exceed 5,000 gallons per day.

In earlier meetings about the Ecology Department’s proposed instream-flow rule for the Quilcene-Snow Basin on the northern Olympic Peninsula, department officials had originally said that using an exempt well to water crops that will be sold – no matter how small the area or how small the amount of water – was illegal because that would be a commercial use of the water.

The department’s recent 180-degree turn on this issue is thanks to the dogged efforts of citizens in tiny Jefferson County, population 27,000, to put the department on a track that considers not only fish but also people when it crafts its instream flow rules.

Ecology’s previous position on exempt wells outraged the agricultural community, which is made up of many small-scale farmers who sell at farmers’ markets, through CSAs and to some retail stores and restaurants.

“That was the issue that ‘broke the bank’ because it brought farmers – established large farmers and small-scale farmers – to the table,” said Norm MacLeod of the newly formed Olympic Waters Association. From there, he said, the department’s proposed instream-flow rule got the attention of a lot of people and spurred a wide variety of people into action.

At a recent meeting in Port Townsend, Wash., attended by the three legislators from the district and Ecology Department officials, more than 300 people showed up, just about all of them opposed to the department’s proposed rule.

Joe Stohr, special assistant to Ecology Department Director Jay Manning, apologized for problems the department may have caused.

He also read a statement that included farmer-friendly language.

“We support local small-scale farming and are committed to developing workable solutions for farmers and salmon,” he said.

As part of his public statement, he also said the department “recognizes that the ‘Kim Case’ is settled law that allows for the use of 5,000 gallons per day in support of agricultural purposes.”

In addition, Stohr told the group the department would like to provide access to technical expertise and funding sources for improved water-resource management – including modern irrigation techniques to make the most efficient use of water.

State House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, who organized the meeting, said that Stohr “got an earful” during the meeting.

“I’m very pleased that the property owners were listened to,” she said. “I’m really glad we were all there. It’s powerful to have that many people in a room. I think the Ecology Department will look at this experience here in Jefferson County and realize that it just can’t go into communities and plop something like this down on them without local participation.”

During the meeting, Dennis Schultz, a small-scale farmer who grows hardy kiwi that he sells locally and at Pike Place Market, pointed to the value of small-scale agriculture to local economies.

He said he spends at least $20,000 a year on such things as equipment, labor and services. Using statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce showing that money gets turned over six to eight times in the local economy, he estimated his farm’s value to the local economy at $120,000 to $160,000.

Going a step further, he said that an average of 15 farmers like himself selling at each of the 61 farmers’ markets in the Puget Sound area help pump $100 million through the area’s economy.

In a telephone interview after the meeting, Schultz said he had become “unglued” when he learned about the department’s stand on exempt wells and agriculture. He made it a point to go to the local fruit growers group and tell the members about it. And as a member of the county planning commission, he was able to spread the message to county officials and staff members.

“Ecology has got to rebuild its credibility,” he said. “We want a locally driven solution that actually protects salmon and that also protects people.”

During the meeting, Norm MacLeod expressed similar sentiments.

“We have an opportunity to work toward a future that includes water for people and water for fish,” he said.

He also told the crowd that the night does not represent a “we won.”

“This night represents we can work together,” he said. “We saw something was wrong, we complained about it ... and now we have to work to make it right.”

Kessler referred to the outcome of the meeting as “a great result.”

“Thank God for people believing that their voices count,” she said. “This time they did.”

Bill Brookreson, deputy director of the state’s Agriculture Department, referred to the Ecology Department’s decision on the issue of exempt wells and agriculture as “a good one.”

“I’m really pleased about what the Ecology Department has done,” he said. “We need to look at water availability for small-scale agriculture, and this is one step toward that.”

Cookson Beecher is based in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. Her email address is cbeecher@capitalpress.com.

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300 attend talks on water rules in Port Townsend

The following article on the November 10 meeting held by the 24th District's legislative team appeared in the Peninsula Daily News. The link is to the truncated online version of the article.

From the perspective of the Olympic Water Users Association, this was a very successful event, bringing the Department of Ecology and the community at large to the same place to open a new dialogue on instream flows and related water issues.

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300 attend talks on water rules in Port Townsend
State lawmakers get earful at public forum

by Jeff Chew
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT TOWNSEND — They came from as far away as Seattle and Carnation to passionately state their cases against and for a state-proposed in-stream flow rule.

But a crowd of at least 300 Jefferson County residents Thursday night made it as clear as the water they consume: the Department of Ecology's rule aimed at ensuring water for humans and salmon is bad for Jefferson County.

Bad for agriculture, bad for business, bad for water and property rights, bad science, bad public relations, and a bad bureaucratic process.

More than 30 speakers testified, mainly to that effect, in a packed Fort Worden Commons as state Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, listened.

The House Majority Leader, who organized the forum, was joined by North Olympic Peninsula Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, and Hoquiam Democratic Sen. Jim Hargrove.

Their district includes Jefferson and Clallam counties, as well as most of Grays Harbor County.

"We are here to listen," said Kessler, who facilitated the forum.

The meeting was far more civil than the name-calling, accusatory initial in-stream flow forums held in September.

Joe Stohr, special assistant to Ecology Director Jay Manning, appeared to calm the crowd at the outset by reading a conciliatory, apologetic statement from Ecology.

"We will work to correct any mistakes or inappropriate statements that disrupted the watershed management effort in WRIA 17. We apologize for any problems that we may have caused," Stohr read from the Department of Ecology's Committment to th eQuilcene-Snow Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA 17).

Stohr called for a new process that builds on the good work done by the WRIA 17 planning unit and involves all residents in the water basin.

Taking him up on the offer was Norm MacLeod, representing 72 members in the newly formed Olympic Water Users Association, which is now seeking nonprofit status.

MacLeod proposed forming a water resources management board in the county to work with Ecology and water and wildlife interests.

He said Ecology grant dollars would be needed to do so because he saw such an effort as an experiment.

"At this point we have a chance for the first time to work with DOE — make a better rule," said MacLeod

"We have an opportunity to work toward a future that includes water for people, water for fish."

Cooperation urged

He urged those in the audience to work with Stohr, bringing all knowledge and thoughts to the table with Ecology.

"This night does not represent a 'we won'. This night represents we can work together," MacLeod said.

"We saw something was wrong, we complained about it ... we have to work to make it right."

Today, residents and farmers can use up to 5,000 gallons per day per home.

Under the proposed rule, that would be cut back considerably.

The last proposed cutback was to 350 gallons per day per home, but could change, officials said Thursday night.

The rule also calls for closure of the Big Quilcene River from March 1 to Nov. 15 and Chimacum Creek from March 1 to Nov. 30 to new water appropriations.

It closes other water bodies in the area year-round to future water rights.

Existing water rights would not be affected under the proposal, but new applications would, Ecology officials stress.

Islands such as Marrowstone would be closed to new groundwater withdrawals under the new rule unless otherwise approved.

Small farmers concerned

Dennis Schultz, a small-scale farmer and county Planning Commission member, said he spends $20,000 a year for goods and services, selling his produce to Port Townsend Farmers Market.

He estimated as many as 100 small agriculture operations in the county that count on water rights to stay in business.

"When are we going to say enough is enough," Schultz said, urging the state to spend as much time on the "human aspects" as with stream flows for salmon habitat.

William Neal, representing the Washington State Groundwater Association, argued that so long as agriculture and other uses return water to the ground, a problem should not exist.

"Where does that water go? Does it go to Mars? It goes right back into the basin," Neal said, adding that stream flows are actually improved when water is returned to the ground during summer months.

He urged municipalities to develop sewage treatment systems that reclaim and reuse water.

Jim Tracy, who now represents Fred Hill Materials Inc. in Jefferson County, told the lawmakers that Stohr was not the problem.

"The Department of Ecology is the problem," he said, drawing loud applause.

Ecology statement

The Ecology statement issued Thursday to the audience states: "We support local small-scale farming and are committed to developing workable solutions for farmers and salmon, including recognition of the Kim case as settled law that allows the use of 5,000 gallons a day in support of agricultural purposes."

The Ecology statement also called for solutions by providing access to technical expertise and available funding sources for improved water resource management, including modern irrigation techniques to make the most of efficient water use.

Businesses needed

Port Townsend real estate agent Nancy Stellow urged that more businesses get involved in the process. She has applied for a WRIA 17 planning unit position.

Paula Macro, North Olympic Salmon Coalition director, also urged the public to get involved in a process she has worked at for 12 years.

She said summer chum salmon returns were showing marked improvement as a result of restoration projects in the county.

Stohr said interested persons should contact him at 360-407-7015 or e-mail at jost461@ecy.wa.gov.

The WRIA 17 planning unity meets again at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Point Hudson Marina Room, 103 Hudson Street.

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Tuesday meetings with Ecology officials bring change

Tuesday, November 8 brought the beginnings of changes to the issues facing residents of WRIA 17. Joe Stohr, Special Assistant to the Director of the Department of Ecology was in Port Hadlock for the meeting of the WRIA 17 Planning Unit's steering committee.

During the meeting, Mr. Stohr, as Director Jay Manning's representative, apologized for the way the instream flow rule-making process has gone to this point. He stated that the Department of Ecology's position on the Kim v. Pollution Control Hearing Board, et AL case of 2003 is that it is prevailing law and that Ecology will respect its findings. He further noted that this means that small agricultural producers are allowed to use up to 5,000 gallons of water per day.

The conversation continued in the afternoon with a smaller audience in the Board of County Commissioners chamber in Port Townsend. During that meeting, Mr. Stohr agreed to publish a correction to the Capital Press article of October 21. That article incorrectly led small agricultural producers to believe that they were illegally using exempt well water if they used it to water crops destined to be sold at farmers' markets in our region.

Mr. Stohr listened carefully to concerns expressed by several county officials and others. He said that Ecology will work to establish a new process for working with community members and officials before proceeding with a renewed effort to come up with a more appropriate way to establish and support instream flows in WRIA 17.

The Department of Ecology is seeking to "clear the air", and will listen to our concerns, frustrations, and issues, and answer our many questions, during the public meeting with the 24th District's legislative team from 5:00 - 7:30 PM at the Fort Worden State Park Commons building. We all need to be there to express our opinions, and to hear what the department's officials have to say. We're hoping they are prepared to work with us toward a community-developed solution to the question of instream flows. If so, please also bring your comments and suggestions for what Ecology needs to do to make a turn-around in your eyes.

While this is good news, it does not mean that we have won the question of the day. What it does mean is that we may have an opportunity to build the instream flow policy that actually matches well with the conditions in our watershed, the needs of the people who live here today and who will live here tomorrow, and the needs of the other species of concern.

With a lot of hard work and the help of your talents, we can turn the opportunity into a reality with the depth of knowledge and skills we have among us in our region. It is not something that we can get done in a few weeks ... it's going to take a long time to do this and get it right.

So, will you please join us tomorrow evening with your family, speak up and help get this process into our hands, so that we can work with each other to build innovative solutions that will provide for our water needs for today and for tomorrow?

We're looking forward to seeing you there.

Jefferson balks at water rule

The November 8, 2005 edition of Peninsula Daily News had an article on the passage of Jefferson County's new WRIA 17 policy. We'd like to invite you to download your own PDF copy of the resolution and policy, so that you will be able to learn more.

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Jefferson commissioners balk at state watershed plan

2005-11-08
by JEFF CHEW

PORT TOWNSEND -- Jefferson County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a formal watershed plan policy statement critical of the state Department of Ecology's efforts to push an in-stream flow rule

``The county has grave concern that the Department of Ecology may be exceeding its legal authority with several of the rule's provisions,'' reads a sentence added to a policy that asks for a comprehensive water management strategy that protects local food production as much as salmon and public water supply.

County Commissioner Pat Rodgers, R-Brinnon, thanked the policy's editor, Commissioner David Sullivan, D-Cape George, saying: ``That was nice to push the pin into Ecology.''

``It was a lot of discussion and a lot of agreement,'' Sullivan said of the wording of the document that he thought was necessary to make the county's position clear to state leaders and Ecology.

Forum on Thursday

The commissioners' action came three days before a Thursday public forum involving the North Olympic Peninsula's three lawmakers to discuss the controversial in-stream flow rule.

The forum is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Fort Worden State Park Commons, and Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, is expected to attend along with Reps. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, and Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

Ecology officials are also expected to attend.

Buck and Kessler recently said they recognize that it is only through an act of legislation that the in-stream flow rule can be recast.

Buck said last week that such legislation would be up to the public to get under way.

The commissioners' policy statement comes as a time when Ecology, through the Water Resource Inventory Area 17 planning unit, enters the implementation phase of the plan intended to protect water for humans and fish.

Lower household usage

Ecology policymakers, who wanted more study on how best to protect streamflows, came up with the proposed in-stream flow rule, allowing access to 3.87 million gallons of water a day areawide.

That sets an average single household usage benchmark of 350 gallons a day, based on the assumption that the average person uses 70 gallons daily, officials said.

Currently, residents can use up to 5,000 gallons per day per home.

The rule in question also calls for the closure of the Big Quilcene River from March 1 to Nov. 15 and Chimacum Creek from March 1 to Nov. 30 to new water appropriations.

It closes other water courses in the area year-round to future water rights.

Existing water rights would not be affected under the proposal, but new applications would.

That leaves county leaders wary, and they make their case in the water policy statement approved Monday.

Appropriated water

The commissioners state that about 4 percent of the county's groundwater recharge is used annually, and that represents a use of about 14 percent of WRIA 17's appropriated water.

While the commissioners' policy statement recognizes the need to work on water quantity challenges, "the premature adoption of a controversial and poorly thought out in-stream flow rule, supported by questionable assumptions, would be a serious mistake and would cause significant harm to the WRIA 17 Planning Unit's efforts.

The commissioners agree that public information and education regarding the WRIA 17 process has been inadequate.

The watershed plan the commissioners adopted in January includes 43 planning unit recommendations to improve water resource management and protect and restore fish and wildlife habitat in WRIA 17, which includes all of East Jefferson County.

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Olympic Peninsula water users to meet legislators about proposed flow rule

The Captial Press had a follow-up article about the WRIA 17 issues in their November 4, 2005 issue. Word about what is happening here is getting out to a widening audience, and that's helping us a great deal. The full text PDF page where the article appears is by subscription only, so we've made it available for you through this page.

We'd like to thank the many people who have written their state legilsators with their concerns. Without your help, we would not be having this public meeting with them on November 10. Please come join us for the conversation!

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Olympic Peninsula water users to meet legislators about proposed flow rule

By COOKSON BEECHER
Washington State Staff Writer

Small-scale farmers and other water users in the Quilcene-Snow watershed on the north Olympic Peninsula will have a chance to share their concerns about the state’s proposed instream-flow rule for the watershed with their state legislators during a special forum on Nov. 10.

The forum will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the Fort Worden Commons, 200 Battery Way, near Port Townsend. It will follow an all-day Jefferson County Economic Development Council summit.

The Ecology Department crafted the proposed rule with the goal of providing enough water for fish and people. But many small-scale farmers, well drillers and other water interests in the county are so dismayed by the rule that they contacted their state legislators about it.

Of particular concern to the smallscale farmers is the department’s assertions that state law does not allow them to use water from their exempt wells for any crops that are sold commercially — no matter how small the acreage or amount of water used.

Department officials say the farmers will have to apply for water-right permits if their wells don’t already having existing water rights. But department officials also say that there is not enough water in many of the waterways in the basin to grant new water rights.

Small-scale farmers in the watershed say the issue of water use from exempt wells has statewide ramifications and needs to be fixed. Ecology officials say they are only following state law and that it will be up to the state legislators to come up with a solution.

Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said she has received many e-mails and letters from constituents who are “clearly very upset about the rule-making process.”

After talking with some of the constituents, she has come to the conclusion that the process didn’t include all of the affected parties, among them the smallscale farmers in the watershed.

“This is a very contentious issue,” she said. “I think it will be good for all of us to be in the same room together and hear what’s being said.”

Taking a long-term view of the situation, Kessler said that national food security figures into the equation.

“Are we going to stop people from growing food for their own communities,” she said. “I believe that we need to have local agriculture so we can supply our own needs. We don’t want to be depending on other countries for our food.”

Her fellow lawmakers from the 24th District, Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, have said they will attend the meeting too.

For more information about the Ecology Department’s proposed instream rule for the Quilcene-Snow watershed, go to www.ecy.wa.gov/ programs/wr/instreamflows/
quilsnowbasin.html.

To tap into an online forum conducted by Norman MacLeod, an Internet consultant who lives near Port Townsend, go to wria17.blogspot.com.

Additional information about is available at www.olywater.org.

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Olympic Water Users Association gears up for water resource management work

Friday, November 4, the interim board of directors for the Olympic Water Users Association (OWUA) filed papers for formal incorporation in Washington state. The Association will now begin working for the interests of water users, beginning with active participation in the ongoing issues with the instream flow rule-making process in Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 17.

The Olympic Water Users Assocation came into being after a vote during a meeting conducted at the Chimcum Grange Hall by more than seventy area citizens deeply concerned by the actions of the Department of Ecology in the process of developing the current draft instream flow rule. The OWUA was formed, in part, because exempt well owners, well drillers, small agricultural producers, and other potentially impacted groups have not previously been represented on the WRIA 17 Planning Unit. According to the rules for the planning unit, voting participation at the table is largely reserved for government entities and stakeholder groups. The meeting participants decided to form that group for all water users.

At some point in the near future, the OWUA will decide whether to apply for voting membership in the WRIA 17 Planning Unit. During the meeting, however, several participants expressed discomfort with the present consensus system used by the planning unit in decision-making.

Recognizing that in WRIA 17 the development of an instream flow rule is separate from the watershed management work being accomplished by the WRIA 17 Planning Unit, the Association is expressing its desire to engage in the development of an instream flow rule that better meets the needs of the watershed's residents and other species of concern. With the growing controversy over the Department of Ecology's current draft rule, the OWUA hopes that the hold placed on the rule-making process will result in the department's willingness to work closely with the Association and other stakeholders and resource bodies to develop a rule tailored to the specific circumstances of WRIA 17 and each of its sub-basins. The Association plans to advocate for active instream flow management solutions working in conjunction with irrigation and other water use best management practices as one of the keys to effective watershed management.

Membership in the OWUA is open to anyone of any age who uses water and wishes to participate in the Association's activities representing water users and helping to manage our water resources. Whether you live in a rural area or an urban location, whether you are on a public water system or a well, and whether you have a sewer connection or use a septic system, you qualify for membership.

The next meeting of the Olympic Water Users Association is tentatively scheduled for November 16, with time and location to be announced.

Water interest is lauded

Things are moving right along, aren't they? This morning's article in the Peninsula Daily News (not included in their online edition) provides additional context to the issues surrounding the Department of Ecology's draft instream flow rule.

The article contains some information on the published opinion in the case of Kim v. Pollution Control Hearing Board, et. AL.

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Water interest is lauded

by Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — State Rep. Jim Buck says he's glad Jefferson County residents are jumping into controversial watershed planning issues that could affect how they use water at home or commercially.

"I'm pleased that the public has gotten as active on the issue as they have," the Joyce Republican said Thursday.

Buck's 24th District includes Jefferson and Clallam counties and most of Grays Harbor County.

Buck said the Legislature has tried to make the state Department of Ecology more responsive to the public's concerns during the past 11 years, most of his tenure in the House.

At issue is the instream flow rule, which Ecology has proposed in an effort to provide enough water for threatened salmon stocks and human consumption.

As currently proposed, water consumption in most of Jefferson County could be reduced from 5,000 gallons per day per household to 350 gallons per day.

"Five thousand gallons a day means you are leaving your kitchen sink faucet running for a minimum of eight hours," Buck said, arguing that most residents don't use that much water.

East Jefferson County residents and political leaders have expressed skepticism over the rule proposal, saying that it smacks of an attempt by Ecology to meter water wells in the county.

Buck said he agrees, but Ecology officials deny that is the intention.

"They've been trying to meter wells for a long time," Buck said.

"Some people in the county have been trying to get them under control."

Buck said longtime Chimacum Valley dairy farmer Rover Short is one of those concerned water users, along with well drillers countywide.

Buck said he looks forward to a forum at 5 p.m. Thursday at Fort Worden Commons, 200 Battery Way, Port Townsend.

Buck, Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, are scheduled to meet with Ecology representatives.

The forum is open to the public.

"I welcome the public interest and public involvement because it's the only way to protect their water rights by having that kind of political backing," Buck said.

Citing the Kim Appeals Court decision, Buck said the Legislature has to act to make a change in such a rule, not Ecology.

"And we have not," Buck said.

"And that has been a hot political potato for the whole time I have been in Olympia."

"Now they're trying to do it through a rule and not through legislative action."

Precedent setting case

Joo Il and Keum Ja Kim won the precendent-setting case after a six-year battle against the Pollution Control Hearing Board and the Department of Ecology.

The Kims filed suit in 1998 against the state agencies after officials said they had to have a water right permit to use well water for their commercial nursery on less than a half-acre in Poulsbo.

Ecology ordered the Kims not to use the well drilled in 1965 for anything other than their residence.

The Court of Appeals rejected Ecology's assertion, ruling that the Kim's commercial nursery was using water for an "industrial purpose," which exempts them from needing a permit.

The court ruled that a 1945 law should be applied and that rendering the statute obsolete was up to the Legislature, not Ecology.

Although the Kims lost in the lower courts, the state Court of Appeals reversed the previous decisions, which gave the case precedent-setting value, akin to a state Supreme Court ruling because it has gone unchallenged and the 1945 law has not been amended by the state Legislature.

The Kims were represented by Jim Tracy, who is now legal counsel to Fred Hill Materials Inc., which is expanding its gravel-mining operations in Shine.

Science questionable

Buck is critical of Ecology's instream flow rule proposal as it now stands.

"I am not willing to accept their science on water continuity," he said.

Continuity is Ecology's belief that use of groundwater results in reduced surface water.

"Five thousand [gallons] is falling on the ground and partially recharging the aquifer," Buck said.

"Whether it is re-entering through a septic system or through te watering of a lawn, it is being reintroduced."

Ecology policymakers, who want more study on how to protect stream flows, arrived at the proposed rule allowing access to 3.87 million gallons of water a day in Water Resources Inventory Area 17, which includes the Quilcene-Snow basins in Jefferson County.

The limitation sets an average single household usage benchmark of 350 gallons daily, based on the assumption that the average person uses 70 gallons of water daily, Ecology officials said.

Under the proposed instream flow rule, water can be used exempt of a state water rights permit so long as what is grown is not sold commercially.

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State water rule misused, Kessler says

This article appears in the November 2 issue of the Peninsula Daily News. An abbreviated version of the article appeared on their website under the title, "Kessler says Ecology interpreting 1995 law's intent correctly for Jefferson County farmers". The difference in title is because the newspaper publishes two versions, one for Jefferson County, the other for Clallam County.

It's worth noting that, in the article, Representative Kessler did not say what that online version of the article noted in its headlining. In fact, the subheading in the Jefferson County print edition said completely the opposite...

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State water rule misused, Kessler says
Lawmaker: Ecology interpreting wrongly against small farms

By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — A North Olympic Peninsula legislator is questioning whether the state Department of Ecology is correctly interpreting the original intent of 1995 legislation that requires Ecology to write an in-stream flow rule.

The proposed statewide rule, which has raised the hackles of Jefferson County farmers, well drillers and others, is intended to provide enough water for fish habitat and human consumption.

Fruit growers and other agricultural interests, including small-scale specialty crop users, fear they will be limited in how much water they can use to remain in business.

State Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said she does not believe the rule should be interpreted to apply to agriculture.

"I don't think it was ever intended to keep small agriculture from surviving," Kessler said.

"We're going way out on a limb to save large agriculture, so why would we want to hurt small ag?"

Kessler's 24th District in the state House includes Jefferson and Clallam counties and most of Grays Harbor County.

Kessler said she hopes to bring all interested parties together in an attempt to clear the air.

"The DOE is blaming the Legislature, and the citizens are blaming DOE," said Kessler, who will visit Port Townsend on Nov. 10 with her 24th District colleague in the state Senate, Jim Hargrove, also of Hoquiam.

'In the same room'

"We need to all be in the same room and try to get through this," she said.

Kessler, Hargrove and Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, announced Monday that they, along with Ecology representatives, have scheduled a public forum at 5 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Fort Worden State Park Commons, 200 Battery Way.

That meeting follows their pariticipation in a Jefferson County Economic Decelopment Council-sposored Economic Summit at the same location.

Kessler, state House majority leader, said with "so much angst going on" over the proposed in-stream flow rule, a public forum was necessary.

"We do know they didn't get enough people involved in it," Kessler said of Ecology's failure to communicate the rule's intentions with county residents.

She called the in-stream legislation "a really old bill passed when Republicans were in charge."

"I doubt they would have anticipated it would have been as far reaching," she said.

"It seems like the rule is silly because you can't meter (water use) and if you do do it, you have to meter it."

Today, residents can use up to 5,000 gallons per day per home.

Under the proposed rule, use could be cut back to 350 gallons per day.

"So what is with the 350 gallon per day limit anyway?" Kessler asked.

Kessler said she and a staff member will be discussing the issue this week with Ecology representatives.

Association forms

Lawmakers were hit with a barrage of e-mail messages in October from a group that includes agriculture, well-drillers and other water interests around Jefferson County.

Interest and wariness about Ecology's intent with the water proposal has led to the formation of the Olympic Water Users Association.

The association representing Jefferson County water interests was the outcome of an Oct. 20 meeting held at Chimacum Grange Hall.

More than 70 people at the meeting have shown interst in becoming members in the new water users association, group founders said.

Ecology policymakers, who want more study on how best to protect stream flows, came up with the proposed rule allowing access to 3.7 million gallons of water a day in Water Resource Inventory Area 17, which includes most of Jefferson County.

The proposed rule sets an average single household usage benchmark of 350 gallons daily, based on the assumption that the average person uses 70 gallons daily, Ecology officials said.

Under the proposed in-stream flow rule, water can be used exempt of a state water rights permit so long as what is grown is not sold commercially.

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Proposed water use limits on tap

This article appears in the November 2, 2005 edition of the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader, but does not appear in their online edition.

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Proposed water use limits on tap

By Kasia Pierzga
Leader Staff Writer

Local residents worried about the state Department of Ecology's proposal to reduce the amount of water used by residents of the Quilcene-Snow watershed will have a chance to air their concerns before legislators next week.

Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Hoquiam) and Reps. Jim Buck (R-Joyce) and Lynn Kessler (D-Hoquiam) hold a public forum to talk about Ecology's plan to set requirements for minimum instream flow in the watershed.

The lawmakers decided to hold the forum after receiving a deluge of letters and phone calls from local residents, said Je-Anne Rogers, an aide in Kessler's Olympia office.

"We're kind of frustrated with Ecology too," she said. "We just want to be sure the citizens are being treated fairly."

Also on hand at the meeting will be several Ecology representatives, including former water resources director Joe Stohr, who is now special assistant to the agency director, and Phil Wiatrak, the planning lead for the watershed.

Other Ecology representatives offer information on the relationship between groundwater and instream flow and the science of setting minimum flow requirements.

Ecology officials want to clear up confusion about the plan and listen to residents' concerns, DOE spokesman Curt Hall said.

"We need to take all the opportunties we can to try to explain what we've proposed in the past and what we still need to do," he said. "We don't want to go in there pretending like we know everything, because we don't."

Port Townsend resident and fruit grower Judi Stewart, who has been critical of Ecology's plan to limit how much water some watershed residents use, said she hopes lawmakers will find a way to rein in Ecology's watershed management efforts.

"I think Ecology is worried," she said. "And they should be worried."

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Lawmakers to attend water plan session in PT

Things are moving forward in WRIA 17. Thursday, November 10, there will be a meeting with our legislative team, Representatives Buck and Kessler, along with Senator Hargrove, at Fort Worden, from 5:00 - 7:30 PM in The Commons. Representatives will also be there from the Department of Ecology.

The following article appeared in the November 1, 2005 edition of The Peninsula Daily News, Jefferson County print edition.

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Lawmakers to attend water plan session in PT

By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — The North Olympic Peninsula's three state lawmakers say that they will join Department of Ecology officials for a public forum next week on Ecology's controversial instream flow proposal.

The forum, spawned by public outcry and interest in the Legislature-required instream flow rule — part of the Quilcene-Snow Water Inventory Resource Area (WRIA) 17, intended to provide enough water for fish and humans — is scheduled for 5 p.m. Nov. 10 in the Fort Worden State Park Commons, 200 Battery Way.

The meeding, which will follow the all-day Jefferson County Economic Development Council economic summit, is apparently the result of a barrage of e-mail messages to 24th District state lawmakers in October from a group that includes farmers, well-drillers, and other water interests from around the county.

A statement from Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Reps. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Jim Buck, R-Joyce, on Monday announced plans for the forum with the lawmakers all planning to attend.

They were already planning to address the EDC summit at the same location.

Attempts to contact the lawmakers by phone Monday were unsuccessful, but Jefferson County residents watch-dogging the proposed instream flow rule said they were happy to be informed of the lawmakers' plans.

"Between my messages and other messages, I guess the legislators got together for the meeting," said Greg Fay, a Quilcene-area fruit grower helping to form a group proposed to be named Olympic Water Users Association.

The association is the outcome of an Oct. 20 special meeting at the Chimacum Grange Hall. More than 70 at the meeting showed interest in becoming members in the new water users association, group founders said.

"This is something that everyone should be involved with, it's not just the growers." said Judi Stewart, a Port Townsend fruit farmer who serves as Western Cascade Fruit Society president in Puget Sound.

Her organization includes the North Olympic Fruit Clib chapter in Jefferson County, which represents about 120 families.

Stewart, a fruit grower for 10 years, has about 60 fruit trees in on her Hastings Street property, with about 100 more in a nursery where she grafts fruit trees.

Stewart on Monday called the state lawmakers' forum "precedent setting."

"This is not just important for our county, but for the state as a whole," she said.

Saying she understands the importance of water, Stewart does not believe Jefferson County's water problem is as big a problem as Ecology makes it out to be.

Ecology policy-makers, who want more study on how best to protect stream flows, came up with the proposed rule allowing access to 3.8 million gallons of water a day areawide.

That sets an average single household usage bechmark of 350 gallons daily, based on the assumption that the average person uses 70 gallons daily, officials said.

Today, residents can use up to 5,000 gallons daily per home.

Exempt of permit

Under the proposed instream flow rule, water can be used exempt of a state water rights permit so long as what is grown is not sold commercially.

This aspect of the proposal has raised the concerns of new small-scale commercial farmers who use existing residential wells.

The wells must have existing water rights, or new farmers will have to seek water right permits.

The rule in question also calls for the closure of the Big Quilcene River from March 1 to Nov. 15 and Chimacum Creek from March 1 to Nov. 30 to new water appropriations.

It closes other water bodies in the area year-round to future water rights.

Existing water rights would not be affected under the proposal, but new applications would.

Islands such as Marrowstone would be closed to new groundwater withdrawals under the new rule unless otherwise approved.

Stewart said Ecology should focus less on taking water away from people and more on catch basins such as Peterson Lake, which was recently bought by Jefferson County Public Utility District, and reclaiming and reusing some of the water used by Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill.

She called state water catchment restrictions on rain barrels "one of the most ridiculous rulings" she has ever seen.

"For people to say you can't use rain barrels, it's absolutely asinine," she said.

'Good stewards'

Calling farmers "good stewards" of water uses, she said they practice heavy mulching and irrigation techniques such as soaker hoses.

Rules without science is a common public theme echoed by Stewart when discussing Ecology's proposed instream flow rule.

Fay and Stewart point to the so-called Kim ruling to fortify their positions.

Jim Tracy, who now represents Fred Hill Materials Inc. in Jefferson County, which seeks to expand its gravel-mining operations in Shine, also represented Jo Il and Keum Ja Kim in their six-year-long legal battle against the state Pollution Control Hearing Board and Department of Ecology.

The Kims filed suit against the state agencies after state officials said they had to have a water right permit to use well water for their commercial nursery on less than a half-acre in Poulsbo.

Ecology ordered the Kims not to use the well drilled in 1965 for anything other than their residence.

The Court of Appeals rejected Ecology's assertion, ruling that the Kims' commercial nursery was using water for an "industrial purpose," which exempts them from a permit.

The court ruled that the 1945 law should be recognized and applied, and that rendering the statute obsolete was up to the Legislature, not Ecology.

Although the case lost in the lower courts, the state Court of Appeals reversed the previous decisions, which gave the case filed in 1998 precedent, akin to a state Supreme Court ruling because it has gone unchallenged and the law has not been amended by the state Legislature.

Tracy, who attends WRIA planning unit meetings and has made appearances before Jefferson County commissioners, said he fought for the Kims for six years, losing five times before the successful appeal.

Calling it an "uncontested Court of Appeals published case," Tracy on Tuesday said, "Either the people with [Ecology] don't understand their work or there's a cavalier disregard of the law."

Today, residents can use up to 5,000 gallons per day per home.

Under the rule propposed, that could be cut back to 350 gallons per day.

Existing water rights

Existing water rights would not be affected under the proposal, but new applications would.

The association's representatives said Ecology's instream flow rule proposal has attracted interest from across party lines, from Democracts, Republicans and political independents.

"There's a very broad base of people who are interested in this issue and who see bad things from what direction [Ecology] is going in," said Stewart.

Norman MacLeod, an Internet consultant who lives near Port Townsend has been conducting forums online at www.blogspot.com.

The new organization's Web site and Web log can be found at www.olywater.org.

"This is an issue that everyone needs to be concerned about," MacLeod writes on the Web site.

"There are many solutions and innovations we can use to actively manage the watershed's instream flows."

"A government agency seizing all the unappropriated water in the watershed and rationing a tiny portion of it back is certainly not the best or only alternative, and is something we as citizens should not allow to happen."