BILL REQ. #:  S-4320.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/03/12.   

     AN ACT Relating to providing water resource mitigation alternatives for human domestic needs in rural areas; adding new sections to chapter 90.54 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the 1971 water resources act provides that allocation of water among potential uses and users must be based generally on securing of the maximum net benefits for the people of the state. Maximum net benefits constitutes total benefits, less costs, including opportunities lost. The legislature finds that in allocating water under chapter 90.54 RCW that adequate supplies of water are to be preserved and protected to satisfy human domestic needs and that mitigation is not statutorily authorized when making these allocations.
     The legislature finds that homeowners not served by a public water system may desire to access additional quantities of water to supplement existing water allocations for human domestic uses for a broad range of potential uses on their land. The department of ecology has advanced conceptual alternatives that may provide homeowners the ability to secure additional water resources based on the water-budget neutral concept.
     The purpose of this act is to authorize the department of ecology to collaboratively work with representatives of state agencies, local governments, local health departments, tribes, landowners, the home construction industry, homeowners, engineers, and other interested people to examine and develop workable mechanisms that are practical, economical, and safe for homeowners and the home construction industry to implement.
     It is the intent of the legislature to help expedite the construction of homes, and the related jobs resulting from home construction, particularly in rural areas, by making water resources more readily available.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department of ecology may work collaboratively to examine potential alternatives for increasing the amount of water otherwise allocated to rural homeowners and businesses under this chapter. Among the alternatives the department may explore are:
     (a) Improvements to water systems serving a certain minimum number of homes, businesses, or both;
     (b) The collection, retention, and use or release of rainwater;
     (c) The use of deep wells to augment stream flows;
     (d) Water-sharing agreements with nearby well owners;
     (e) Constructing ponds or other water impoundments;
     (f) Conserving water in the watershed and banking that conserved water for transfer to other users;
     (g) Pumping water from other legally available water sources for release into the watershed to offset the increased withdrawal that is sought;
     (h) Improving the efficiency of municipal irrigation or other water distribution systems in the watershed; and
     (i) Other alternatives that may have merit as suggested by the department or interested parties.
     (2) For alternatives that are determined to be viable, the department may: (a) Develop the criteria and mechanisms to provide clear and practical guidance to homeowners and builders; (b) anticipate the variety of conditions in the state and provide an array of options suitable to meet the types of conditions that homeowners would likely encounter; and (c) develop true-to-life examples of how it would work in subbasins where limitations on water for essential human domestic uses are in effect. The examples must show how mitigation credits would be assigned, how the size of projects would be determined, the season or conditions under which mitigation credits would be useable, a cost estimate for each example, whether permits would be required, and whether additional agency staff would be needed.
     (3) The department of health, the department of fish and wildlife, and the state building code council may be requested to assist the department in developing viable alternatives that clearly address the needs of homeowners and the home building industry to make these options practical, economical, and safe.
     (4) For those alternatives that are determined to have a high degree of viability, the department may cooperatively work with involved groups to conduct demonstration projects for each alternative to test the practical usability, effectiveness, cost, and safety and determine whether there are unintended consequences.
     (5) When the department, after consultation with the involved groups, determines what alternatives have been successfully demonstrated to be viable, the department may submit proposed legislation to provide the legal framework necessary to utilize these mitigation alternatives.
     (6) The department may provide a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 10, 2012, on the progress of this activity.
     (7) The activities of the involved state agencies must be conducted from within the existing funds available to the agency.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) In watersheds where the department has closed or partially closed a basin to further appropriation of groundwater, or in areas where closure or partial closure is anticipated, the county legislative authority may create a limited purpose local water bank. In considering whether a water bank would be a viable tool in the area, the county legislative authority shall consider whether there are a sufficient number of existing water rights in the area to make a water bank successful.
     (2) Water banks created under this section serve the purpose of providing mitigation credits for existing interruptible or new exempt groundwater withdrawals. The credit must be granted on a one-to-one ratio. The maximum amount of credit may not exceed five thousand gallons per day nor less than three hundred fifty gallons per day. A seasonal water right must be prorated on a basis of the total permitted withdrawal divided by three hundred sixty-five days to arrive at the total expressed gallons per day.
     (3) A water right or a portion of a water right placed into a limited purpose local water bank must be demonstrated to be in hydraulic continuity with the groundwater to be withdrawn by the new user. Water rights placed into limited purpose local water banks are not subject to review for relinquishment or wastage. Water rights placed into a limited purpose local water bank may only be purchased on a permanent basis and only for purposes of mitigating exempt withdrawals consistent with subsection (2) of this section.
     (4) Water credits purchased through a limited purpose local water bank must be affixed to a specific parcel of land to mitigate interruptible or new groundwater withdrawals consistent with this act. Water credits so purchased are assignable with conveyance of title of the new land parcel to which it is affixed, but may not be transferred to another parcel, except nothing in this section prevents a parcel to which a water credit is affixed to be subdivided and the water credit prorated amongst the newly created parcels, as long as no parcel may be assigned less than three hundred fifty gallons per day for domestic use.
     (5) Water credits purchased from a bank must be purchased in the form of a certificate expressed in a maximum gallons per day withdrawal. The price of the certificate is determined by the water right holder and is a one-time purchase price. The purchase price must be expressed as a base price for three hundred fifty gallons per day, and an additional price expressed for each additional fifty gallons per day increment.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A limited purpose local water bank may be created by ordinance adopted by the county legislative authority. An ordinance may be adopted only after providing a thirty day comment period and at least one public hearing located within the boundaries of the watershed, or if no suitable location exists, at the county seat.
     (2) The county legislative authority may administer a limited purpose local water bank or may contract with a water conservancy board, watershed planning group, or conservation district to administer the local water bank. The cost of administering the limited purpose local water bank may be supported by general fund moneys, real estate excise tax revenues, or from fees added to the price of water credits purchased from the bank, or a combination of these sources. Fees affixed to the water credit price must be calculated to recover the actual costs in an amount not to exceed nine percent of the purchase price of the water credits.
     (3) Water rights placed in a limited purpose local water bank must be purchased in an order at the discretion of the purchaser. Water rights placed in the bank may not be mingled with other water rights or water credits purchased from any right within the bank, and must carry the priority date of the original water right.
     (4) Nothing in this section or section 3 of this act may be construed to grant the local legislative authority or agency contracted to administer the limited purpose local water bank any authority to place conditions on the use of the water credits purchased beyond those found in existing law or this section.