Housing issues tread through water policy

The following commentary appeared in the Jauary 27, 2006 edition of the Peninsula Daily News.

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Housing issues tread through water policy

By Martha Ireland

Foreseen consequences of changing the Sequim-Dungeness Valley's agricultural irrigation system will have an impact on some of the region's most vulnerable residents.

"We finished piping between Taylor Cutoff to just past Hooker," president Gene Adolphsen reported to the Dungeness Irrigation Group's annual meeting Saturday.

Monday, at my Serenity House adult family shelter job in Port Angeles, I fielded a call from a disabled low-income renter on Taylor Cutoff Road.

The well is dry, the landlord is disinclined to drill deeper, and a tight rental market offers few options.

Replacing roughly five miles of open irrigation ditches with pipes nearly halved the amount of water that irrigators remove from the Dungeness River during the May to Sept. 15 irrigation season.

It's no surprise that shallow wells are drying up.

The official response is that those wells should be drilled deeper for health reasons.

Furthermore, aquifer recharge is now deemed an inappropriate use of irrigation water.

In fact, the state Department of Ecology wants further restrictions in irrigation season withdrawals, and none thereafter, Adolphsen said.

To meet livestock's year-round water needs, Ecology is "talking about grant money to drill individual stock wells so we can cut the ditch off Sept. 15," he said.

When farmers began irrigating the Sequim-Dungeness prairie in the early 1900s, conserving water meant using and reusing fresh water multiple times before letting it flow into the salty Strait.

Modern wisdom views water conservation as keeping water in the rivers, ostensibly for the benefit of fish, rather than using it to water land.

This concept is illustrated by the in-stream flow rule proposed last year to constrict water use in Water Resource Inventory Area 17, which covers much of eastern Jefferson County, and by the grant-funded piping projects that take irrigation ditches permanently off-line after more than a century of feeding the upper aquifer.

Piping is a conservation strategy that delivers some benefits to farmers.

"We noticed a lot more dependable water," Adolphsen said.

"On a hot day, everybody turns on [water]. Trees drink a horrendous amount of water, and we have a hard time getting water from top to bottom.

"(With piping) we've almost cut our usage in half and are giving better service."

But piping affects other elements of the ecosystem — human and vegetative.

For example, after the ditch along the east end of Spath Road was piped, an alder hedgerow died.

Seven years of drought — culminating in last summer's record low rainfall — further depleted aquifers.

The natural weather cycle has washed away the drought, but even amid record rainfall, it will be years before the aquifer fully recovers.

Water issues sometimes appear to be used as a tool to deter development, as seen in the lawsuit delaying Jefferson County Public Utillity District's Marrowstone Island water system.

In contrast, Clallam County irrigators find that changes inspired by conservation sometimes help resolve conflicts with residential neighbors.

"Parkwood won't bother us anymore," Adolphsen said, referring to a lengthy feud over the formerly open ditch that edged the dairy farm-turned-retirement-complex.

Leftover pipe will be used to "nip in the bud a trouble spot above Costco" where the ditch has drawn complaints from people involved in new construction, he added.

"It's not much fun to put pipe in just to outrun development," Adolphsen said.

"It's supposed to be for conservation, but this is Sequim, so that's what we do."

Martha Ireland is a writer-editor who served as a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 to 1999. She lives with her husband, Dale, and "dritters" in the Carlsborg area. Her column appears every Friday.
Email: irelands@olypen.com.

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Realtors join water resources planning unit

The following article appeared in the January 26, 2005 Jefferson County edition of the Peninsula Daily News.

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More groups seeking places on regional WRIA panel

By Jeff Chew

Peninsula Daily News

PORT HADLOCK — Water Resources Inventory Area 17 planning unit members brought the Jefferson County Association of Realtors on board Tuesday as numerous special interest groups jockey for seats on the body.

The planning unit, however, only granted advisory roles to Marrowstone Island-based Conserve Water First and the county Planning Commission, saying their votes would be considered redundant.

Conserve Water First is affiliated with Olympic Environmental Council, which is already represented on the planning unit by Willie Smothers.

The decision to keep the county Planning Commission in an advisory role was similarly based because county commissioner David Sullivan is on the planning unit, acting as its facilitator.

The decisions came Tuesday at the Washingon State University Learning Center when the planning unit met with Joe Stohr, special assistant to state Department of Ecology director Jay Manning.

The planning unit acted on membership applications and discussed the process for creating an in-stream flow rule and watershed planning.

Although the three Jefferson County Public Utility District commissioners a week ago agreed they did not want Conserve Water First on the WRIA 17 board, the planning unit, with utility district Commissioner Dana Roberts voting in favor, approved a non-voting "topical" membership on the unit.

Such a role would allow Conserve Water First to be involved in planning unit water issue discussions.

Utility District Commissioner Kelly Hays of Marrowstone Island said he disapproved of having Conserve Water First representation on the planning unit.

"I felt like we had voted to not include these people and all of a sudden we voted to do it," Hays said.

Utility District Commissioner Wayne King said it appears the district was caught by surprise, not knowing advisory positions would be allowed on the planning unit.

"I would have liked to have known more about the non-voting topical role," he said.

King said he expects the matter will be discussed further at the utility district's February workshop.

Roberts said he believed his direction from fellow board members was that Conserve Water First should not have a vote on the planning unit.

Under the planning unit rules, a "topical" position on the unit allows discussion until a vote is made.

"That's why I could accept the topical role," Roberts said.

"It is a different animal. It has no vote."

More than a year ago, Conserve Water First unsuccessfully challenged the Public Utility DIstrict in Jefferson County Superior Court over the agency's attempts to construct a water system on Marrowstone Island, which has a growing number of dry wells and saltwater intrusion fouling other wells.

Conserve Water First supports water conservation and water catchment systems as an alternative to installing a water system.

The state Department of Ecology, which is working with the WRIA 17 Quilcene-Snow planning unit to establish an in-stream flow rule, frowns on water catchment systems because they alter the natural flow of water.

Such systems capture water off building roofs for storage and use after filtration and purification.

Olympic Environmental Council's Smothers said that Conserve Water First could bring a component to the WRIA 17 planning unit table that the Marrowstone Groundwater Association could not.

The groundwater association is represented on the planning unit.

Stohr said that Jefferson County needed to strike a balance regarding its in-stream flow rule because the region's state lawmakers consider Jefferson County a "fish ciritical" area.

"Of all the basins across the state, this is the one that's very important, " Stohr said.

The state has granted $15,000 to the planning unit to hire a facilitator and secretary.

Another $100,000 is also set aside to be used for groundwater and other studies.

The planning unit's next meeting is a 6 p.m. Tuesday at the WSU Learning Center, 201 W. Pattison St., off state Highway 19.

Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.

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The meeting on Tuesday, January 31 mentioned at the end of the article is not actually a planning unit meeting. It is a meeting of the ad hoc group that is working on setting the process for the upcoming instream flow rule-making process.

Jefferson PUD trims parties to water talks

The following article appeared in the January 19, 2006 Jefferson County issue of the Peninsula Daily News.

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WRIA planning membership is discussed

By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

PORT HADLOCK — Jefferson County Public Utililty District commissioners on Wednesday agreed that the county Planning Commission and Marrowstone Island-based Conserve Water First organization should not be a part of the Watershed Resource Inventory Area 17 planning unit.

However, the Jefferson County Association of Realtors should be, commissioners decided.

The WRIA 17 planning unit now being reconfigured will help shape the state Department of Ecology's controversial in-stream flow rule for the Quilcene-Snow basin into something the planning unit sees as fiar and equitable to the county's economy and salmon populations.

Applications discussed

During their monthly meeting, utility district commissioners discussed three WRIA 17 planning unit membership applications to help fill out the unit's steering committee.

The commissioners agreed that Planning Commission and Conserve Water FIrst representation would be redundant since they fall unter the county commissioners and the Olympic Environmental Council as their umbrella organizations respectively.

"The county already is represented on the planning unit," said utillity district Commissioner Dana Roberts.

County Commissioner David Sullivan has been acting as the unit's temporary facilitator as well.

"Now everybody wants to be in it and we're going to have to keep the number of votes down," said utility district Commissioner Kelly Hays.

On the other hand, Hays said, the county's Realtor group has a list of members and specific special interests, many of which they share with the Jefferson County Homebuilders Association.

Hays raised the possibility of the Realtors and homebuilders joining as one representative.

Catchment systems

As for Conserve Water First, which more than a year ago unsuccessfully challenged the utillity district's project to pipe water to Marrowstone Island, commissioners said the group's support of water catchment systems was something the state Department of Ecology frowns upon.

Ecology opposes water catchment systems because they divert water naturally destined for watersheds and aquifers.

"We're not lobbyists. We're not lawmakers. I think we have to go through the Legislature for that," King said of changing the laws against water catchment systems, such as water collected off rooftops.

"I cannot see how we can vote in favor of Conserve Water First."

Roberts questioned why the group would need a place on the planning unit when it is already represented by Olympic Environmental Council''s Willie Smothers.

"It really sounds to me that OEC is an umbrella for CWF," said Roberts.

Ray Harker, a Conserve Water First member at the meeting, said Ecology wants to broaden representation on the WRIA 17 planning unit.

"[Ecology] requested more people on this to get a full picture of representation through the county," Harker said.

"That was the reason why all this came into play, that was the intent."

Hays, saying he was speaking as a utility district commissioner and not a Marrowstone Island representative supporting district water service, said, "The problem now is everyone wants to come to the table and be represented."

Harker said that voting members and non-members, including Roberts and Bill Graham, utility district water resources manager, served on the planning unit, which has more than one representative.

Graham said that he served more as a resource to Roberts and did not have a vote.

The utility district's recommendations now go before the planning unit steering committee and then the full unit.

The controversial rule's intent is to ensure enough water for humans and stream levels that save salmon.

Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com

Striking the right balance

This article appeared in the January 11, 2006 edition of the Peninsula Daily News.

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State official vows to weigh economy in new water rules

By Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News

PORT TOWNSEND — A state Department of Ecology official vowed Tuesday to work with Jefferson County businesses and residents to strike a balance between the county's economy and the need for water to sustain salmon habitat.

Joe Stohr, special assistant to Ecology Director Jay Manning, met for the first time this year with the Watershed Resource Inventory Area 17 planning unit at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

Stohr said the plan is to get the county back on track regarding Ecology's proposed instream flow rule.

Stohr said he envisions a 10 to 15 person planning unit that could work through June 2007 to write a new instream flow rule for Jefferson County, all the while moving "in a thoughtful way."

The controversial rule's intent is to ensure enough water for humans and stream levels that protect salmon.

Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan, D-Cape George, facilitated the meeting before about 20 people in the commissioners' chambers.

Audience members included representatives of agriculture, real estate and building interests.

Manning, encouraged by North Olympic Peninsula 24th District Reps. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Jim Buck, R-Joyce, and 24th District Senator Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, enlisted Stohr late last year to work with concerned county residents.

The legislators' district includes Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Those residents, most of more than 300 at a Fort Worden Commons public forum, protested the proposed instream flow rule, many saying they fear the loss of future water rights and in some cases livelihoods and property values.

"We want the planning unit to create something that is complementary to the flow rule," Stohr said Tuesday afternoon.

"How can we deal with the economy and fish, and find the right balance?"

Stohr in late 2005 apologized to county residents on behalf of Ecology, saying, "We will work to correct any mistakes or inappropriate statements that disrupted the watershed management effort in WRIA 17."

Examine economic effects

Norm MacLeod, representing Jefferson County-based Olympic Water Users Association, agreed that the subject of economic effects should be discussed upfront in the early instream flow rule talks.

Stohr last year called for a new process that builds on the work done by the WRIA 17 planning unit and involves all residents in the Quilcene-Snow watershed.

MacLeod, speaking at the forum last year, proposed forming a water resources management board in the county to work with Ecology and water and wildlife interests.

While feelings were mixed Tuesday about the need for a WRIA 17 meeting facilitator through a $15,000 Ecology grant, a request for proposals was expected to be advertised for the position.

Dennis Schultz, a farmer representing the Jefferson County Conservation District, called for full disclosure on the part of each planning unit volunteer's interests and who could vote on the flow rule.

Bill Graham, Jefferson County Public Utility District resource manager, asked if an independent contractor could be hired to review the instream flow proposal "independent of the state or state scientists that may or may not have an agenda."

"I'm open to that," Stohr said.

Planning Unit member Nancy Dorgan said that the instream flow rule would have to be established before Jefferson County Public Utility District could pursue its water storage proposals around the Chimacum Creek watershed.

Sullivan said he thought about "winners and losers" in the process of establishing an instream flow rule, which proposes closing water basins and limiting water consumption.

The WRIA 17 planning unit set a 6 p.m. Jan. 24 meeting, preceded by a steering committee meeting at 5 p.m. The location is to be determined later.

Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.