Friday
April 27, 2007
Water Rights Sought to
Support Yakima Basin Stream Flows
Source: Washington State Department of Ecology
"The Yakima River basin is one of 16 watersheds in the state where the survival of salmon is threatened or endangered," explained Tom Tebb, a water resources manager for Ecology in Yakima. "Buying or leasing water rights will allow us to augment stream flows at the times of year when fish need the water the most, while compensating the farmers who own the rights."
Working with the nonprofit organizations Washington Rivers Conservancy and Washington Water Trust, Ecology has set up a reverse-auction program where senior water-right holders may offer to sell or lease their water rights to the state.
Qualifying water rights must have a priority date earlier than May 10, 1905, and must have been awarded a final water right from the Yakima River Adjudication court, also known as a conditional final order.
The water right's "purpose of use" must include irrigation, and the point where the water is diverted must be a Yakima basin tributary upstream from the Sunnyside Canal diversion near Parker Dam. Only bids reflecting a minimum of 10 acres of irrigated land will be considered.
Ecology's preference is to purchase water rights. However, two kinds of leasing opportunities will be available in the Yakima River basin:
- Split-season lease option: Split-season leases are for a portion of the irrigation season, beginning on Aug. 1 and continuing through the end of the irrigation season as defined by Yakima County Superior Court's Conditional Final Order (CFO). The minimum term of the lease is five years.
- Dry-year lease option. Dry year leases would give Ecology the option to lease a water right in years when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation rations its Yakima Project water rights. The minimum term of a lease option would be 10 years. Under an agreement, Ecology would make annual payments of $10 per acre-foot of consumptive use to secure an option to lease the water right in water-short years. Ecology would also pay an agreed-upon price in water-short years when the option is exercised.
Water rights acquired through this auction will be managed as part of the Washington Trust Water Rights Program. Funding for the auction is being made available by Ecology and the Bonneville Power Administration through the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program.
Washington Rivers Conservancy and Washington Water Trust focus work on cooperative agreements that set aside water supporting stream flows and will assist Ecology in the transactions.
Interested parties may contact the Department of Ecology by phone at (509) 575-2597 or in person at 15 W. Yakima Ave., Suite 200, Yakima. More information is available online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/wrhome.html
Contact:
Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610