BILL REQ. #:  S-3870.2 

Read first time 01/28/14.   Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Water & Rural Economic Development.

     AN ACT Relating to ensuring that existing exempt water uses in the Skagit river basin are not subject to interruption; adding a new section to chapter 90.44 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 hundreds of homeowners and businesses in the Skagit river basin who lawfully obtained building permits are subject to interruption of established groundwater uses through the operation of the Skagit river basin instream flow rule, chapter 173-503 WAC. An interruptible groundwater supply is not feasible for domestic use, is hazardous to public health, and imposes severe economic harm on citizens who justifiably relied on the water availability determinations of both state and local governments. The same water users could suffer substantial hardship due to the enforcement of the Skagit river basin instream flow rule. It is therefore just, equitable, and within the public's interest to preserve from interruption those existing water uses.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 90.44 RCW to read as follows:
     Groundwater uses exempt from the permit requirement of RCW 90.44.050 and established between April 14, 2001, and October 3, 2013, in the Skagit river basin, as delineated in chapter 173-503 WAC, shall not be subject to interruption from the instream flows established in the Skagit river basin instream flow rule, chapter 173-503 WAC.