Gregoire: Water must be shared

The following article appeared in the March 21, 2006 issue of The Olympian.

Last week we attended a WRIA meeting in Olympia, where the question of whether or not the principles included in HB 2860, regarding water resource management in the Columbia River Basin, would apply in WRIAs around the Puget Sound. A Department of Ecology official told us that 2860 only applies to the Columbia River Basin. Apparently, Governor Gregoire feels otherwise.

The governor spoke to a shared water management concept in combination with storage for release in the dryer parts of late summer. That's what we've been asking for here, and it looks increasingly as if there is support from many quarters for putting into motion.

Now, all we have to do is to get the Department of Ecology to agree . . .

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Gregoire: Water must be shared

By ADAM WILSON
THE OLYMPIAN

The approach used this year to solve some of the water issues facing Eastern Washington, including increased storage capacity, can work for the Puget Sound area in the future, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday.

Growth in Lacey, Olympia and Tumwater threatens to outstrip the area’s supply of freshwater. Lacey has enacted an effective ban on development outside its city limits as it comes close to using the maximum amount of water to which it has a legal right.

Gregoire, speaking to the Olympia Rotary Club, said a shared-used concept, as well as building storage to lessen the effect of high-demand periods in the summer, could be the answer.

She recalled her days as director of the Department of Ecology, saying the factions fighting for water in the drier half of the state dug in their heels.

“We got ourselves into a mindset of either the water was for farmers or it was for fish in the stream,” she said, adding, “We got ourselves out of the ‘or’ in the legislative session.”

Columbia River Basin

Gregoire explained that a compromise approved by the Legislature this year guarantees water to the users in the Columbia River Basin, including farmers, cities and the natural environment. At the heart of the compromise was a pledge by the state to spend $200 million in building water storage capacity to lesson the demands on groundwater during peak use.

The same sort of compromise might be needed on the rainy, but more populated, side of the state, Gregoire told the civic group.

“We don’t save it for the times when we really need it. That’s the lesson we really learned,” Gregoire said.

It sounded like a reasonable idea to Jim Larson, an Olympia Rotarian. He said he had spent time in Ellensburg in Eastern Washington and was concerned that the same water shortages facing residents there and in Lacey could spread to Tumwater and Olympia.

“You can’t grow unless you have water,” he said.