Columbia water use law signed

FEBRUARY 17, 2006 | Governor Chris Gregoire on February 16 signed into law the Columbia River Basin Water Resource Management bill that makes a new investment in the economic and environmental future of central and eastern Washington.
The bill overwhelmingly passed both houses of the Legislature.
"The gridlock is broken," Gregoire said. "For 30 years, people have been wrangling over the best way to support the water needs of eastern Washington, and protect and restore our native salmon runs on the Columbia River. Now we have a road map towards achieving those goals. We broke through the stalemate because of the respectful consensus we built among our partners, who include the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, our tribal neighbors, farmers, environmental groups and communities up and down the Columbia River."
Work on the bill began a year ago when Gregoire asked House and Senate leaders from both parties to appoint members to a Columbia River Task Force to study the long-standing water management stalemate on the Columbia River.
The bill commits to developing new storage and water conservation projects on the Columbia River, provides a formula for allocating newly stored water, and creates mechanisms for jumpstarting conservation measures and improving current management operations on the Columbia River.
One-third of all newly stored water will be allocated to support stream flows for fish. Two-thirds of newly stored water will be available for new out-of stream water uses, such as farming, industry and municipal growth.
A copy of the bill is available online. For more information, visit the Columbia Water Partnership pages on the Ecology Web site.

New injection well rules

JANUARY 5, 2006 | The state Department of Ecology has issued revised rules for regulating underground injection control wells.
Injection wells are dug or drilled to put water or other fluids into the ground. In Washington state, most of these wells dispose of stormwater runoff or waste water. Examples include dry wells along roads and parking lots and septic systems that serve 20 or more people per day.
State law requires Ecology to regulate these wells to prevent pollution or contamination of ground water. This is an important safeguard because fluids going into an injection well can travel to ground water (water located under the ground surface), and the majority of Washington's water used for drinking comes from ground water sources. Contamination of ground water can result if an injection well is not properly located, constructed, operated, and maintained.
"Although the injection well rules apply to a small part of the regulated community, they are important because they help prevent pollution of water that can affect people and aquatic resources," said Dave Peeler, Ecology's water quality manager. "Maintaining this program at Ecology also helps us stretch limited public dollars more efficiently by coordinating this rule with other Ecology programs that regulate water quality.
Ecology is revising the injection well regulations to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements. The primary changes in the injection well rule include:
Adding federal program modifications, including definitions and well types.
Allowing fluids from municipal, commercial, industrial and residential sources and storm water into injection wells if the requirements of the rule are met.
Requiring owners of existing injection wells to review their current uses and determine if they protect groundwater quality. This includes identifying high-risk stormwater wells and retrofitting them if necessary.
Explaining the requirements for closing an injection well and list what types of wells will automatically meet the groundwater protection requirement of the rule.
Information about the underground injection well rule-revision is available online. Media contact: Glenn Kuper, public information manager, 360-407-6848. Rule-revision Web page. Department of Ecology Press Release - January 5, 2006.

TAKING ON THE MEXICO CITY FORUM A guest opinion in the Cook County News Herald of Grand Marais, Minnesota, blasted the approach taken at the March Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City which equated water rights with human rights.
"After the first day of the meeting, however, it became clear that the government and corporate agents were only interested in turning water management into a business opportunity, whereupon the NGOs and activists established an alternative forum intent on identifying access to clean water as a fundamental right . . . If we accept the position that water is a common good, and an inalienable right shared by all people, does that mean that folks in China or France have as much right to Lake Superior’s water as we do?
Perhaps we would be better served if we didn’t use the concept of human rights to justify our control of Lake Superior’s water, but rather, focused on Cibber’s observation that possession is eleven points in the law."