Washington - Update Water Laws

Existing water policy and rules can be complicated, challenging, and, at times, overwhelming to navigate. Washington Water Project works through this maze to find solutions. Where outdated policies limit the flexibility needed for achieving positive results on the ground, WWP aims to modernize the legal context and to facilitate non-regulatory approaches that bring people together around strategies of multiple-use.

In 2009, WWP staff and a diverse group of partners worked to revise and clarify some of the language that forms the basis of the state Trust Water Rights Program, and were heavily involved in the conversations that led to a successful passage of ESSB 5583. The amendments clarify language and increase the effectiveness of the TWRP for protecting water rights and instream flow. Some of the key changes include:

•  Allowing for groundwater rights to be put into trust. This offers more flexibility for changing water rights and increases the amount of water available to transfer to trust and will also aid in enhancing stream flows.
• New language ensures that all water rights placed in the trust program retain all of the attributes held by that water right before being placed in the program. This protects the interests of water right holders who wish to use the trust program.
• Clarifies that water banking may be used statewide and not just in the Yakima Basin.
• Provides that a instream flow trust water right in trust is considered to be "exercised."

The success of the coalition in the 2009 legislative session highlights the ability of our organizations to affect significant and important changes in Olympia. Through our partnerships with the Farm Bureau, Irrigation Districts, tribes, legislators, realtors, and others, we are working to continue to this pattern of success in the 2010 legislative session with good policies that seek to balance the needs of people, farms, and fish.