SENATE BILL REPORT

                   SB 6140

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

          Agriculture & Environment, February 4, 1998

Title:  An act relating to water rights.

Brief Description:  Regulating public water systems.

Sponsors:  Senators Morton, Rasmussen, Winsley, Goings and Schow.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Agriculture & Environment:  1/20/98, 2/4/98 [DPS].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE & ENVIRONMENT

Majority Report:  That Substitute Senate Bill No. 6140 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.

  Signed by Senators Morton, Chair; Swecker, Vice Chair; Newhouse, Oke and Rasmussen.

Staff:  Bob Lee (786-7404)

Background:  Water rights generally contain provisions that establish a place of use and a purpose of use.  Also, water rights generally contain limitations on the instantaneous quantity and the yearly quantity of water that may be withdrawn.

Interties are interconnections between existing public water systems that permit exchange of water.  Interties have increasingly been used by larger water system in populous regions of the state.  Interties are subject to approval by the Department of Health as part of public water system planning requirements. 

The increasing use of interties has raised issues regarding whether requirements to obtain a water right transfer approval from the Department of Ecology had been satisfied.  In 1991, at the request of the Joint Select Committee on Water Resource Policy, legislation was formulated and passed that:

1.  Declared that it is in the public interest to recognized interties existing as of January 1, 1991 and to have the water rights associated with those interties modified to reflect current use;

2.  Provided the ability for complaints from junior water right holders or others relating to those existing interties to be filed by September 1991.  If no protests were filed, Ecology was directed to modify the water rights to reflect usage as of January 1, 1991; and

3.  Established two processes for approving future water right transfers associated with interties, one for emergent needs and one for normal conditions.  These processes include determination of whether existing water rights, including instream flows established by rule, would be impaired by the proposed transfer.

The 1991 statute specifies that interties may provide water that is a primary or secondary source of supply, but may not include the development of a new source of supply to meet future demand.

In December 1996, the Attorney General's Office issued an opinion regarding several issues in regard to the 1991 intertie statute.

Summary of Substitute Bill:  A public water system may supply water to another public water system as long as the supplying system's use does not exceed its water right authorization. A public water system who receives water from an intertie may exceed its water right authorization as long as the system's withdrawal does not exceed its water right authorization.

In considering applications for new water rights, if the applicant is a party to an existing intertie agreement, the Department of Ecology must consider the existence, nature, economics and terms of the agreement.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:  Technical changes are made.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Requested on January 14, 1998.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  The statute has a number of technical problems and some major policy issues.  What this bill attempts to address is the technical issues.   Some water utilities have surpluses of water while others have shortages.  Major capital expenditures are needed in the near future because some utilities have reached the limit of their water rights.  Unless the law is clarified, utilities will be unable to make decisions regarding investment in public water supply facilities.

Testimony Against:  The issues associated with municipal water interties should be addressed on a comprehensive fashion.

Testified:  PRO:  Mark Hullinger, Water Cooperative of Pierce County, Lakewood Water; Jeff Johnson, Water Cooperative of Pierce County, Spanaway Water; Jim Haneline, Water Cooperative of Pierce County, Summit Water; John Woodring, Washington Association of Realtors; CON: Judy Turpin, Washington Environmental Council; Karla Kay Fullerton, Washington Cattlemen=s Association; Ken Slattery, Department of Ecology; Dawn Vyvyan, Yakama Nation.