Commentary: State must address use-it-or-lose-it water rule as drought worsens.
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I’ve lived in Bellingham for 22 years on the edge of Whatcom Falls Park. I walk past the falls about once a week, probably a thousand times since moving here. I’ve never seen the falls this dry so early in the year. Flow in mid-June is what I would expect to see in late September.
Indeed, the state Department of Ecology earlier this month declared a drought emergency in several counties, including Whatcom. According to Ecology, “The warmer-than-normal April also led to rapid snowmelt — two to four weeks earlier than normal across the Central and North Cascades. This means that less water will be available in summer and early fall when it’s needed most for farms and fish.”
Given our drought, one would think that Ecology is strongly encouraging all water users, especially agricultural users, to conserve and improve their water-use efficiency. Unfortunately, such encouragement likely won’t work with farmers because their water use is subject to relinquishment, a use-it-or-lose-it part of state water law. This conflict between water law on one hand and common sense and a much needed response to drought on the other hand is tragic because agriculture accounts for about three-fourths of summer water use in Whatcom County.
Assume, for example, a farmer improves water-use efficiency by adopting a sophisticated, data-driven irrigation scheduling method. State law requires Ecology to take back that saved water, thus robbing the farmer of what had formerly been his/her valuable legal right. Ecology implicitly recognizes this insanity in its lack of enforcement.
It’s long past time for Ecology to convene discussions between the farmers and Native American Tribes (as well as other interested parties) to develop an agreement on elimination of relinquishment. Perhaps some of the water that would otherwise be relinquished can be assigned to instream flow to support healthy fish populations, with the remainder retained by the farmer to apply elsewhere.
We face a stark choice. Our local leaders can implement projects to reduce the large and growing gap between summer water supplies and demand. Such actions would increase supplies, store winter water for summer use, and increase water-use efficiency. Or we can continue on our current business-as-usual path and watch Whatcom Falls run entirely dry earlier and earlier each year.
— By Eric Hirst
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