Passed by the House April 22, 2003 Yeas 97 Nays 0 FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 10, 2003 Yeas 47 Nays 2 BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate		CERTIFICATE I, Cynthia Zehnder, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED HOUSE BILL 2067 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. CYNTHIA ZEHNDER ________________________________________ Chief Clerk
Approved May 14, 2003. GARY LOCKE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington		FILED May 14, 2003 - 3:37 p.m. Secretary of State State of Washington

Read first time 02/21/2003. Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources.

AN ACT Relating to withdrawals of public ground waters for domestic use of clustered residential developments; amending RCW 90.44.050; and adding a new section to chapter 90.44 RCW.

Sec. 1 RCW 90.44.050 and 1987 c 109 s 108 are each amended to read as follows:
After June 6, 1945, no withdrawal of public ground waters of the state shall be begun, nor shall any well or other works for such withdrawal be constructed, unless an application to appropriate such waters has been made to the department and a permit has been granted by it as herein provided: EXCEPT, HOWEVER, That any withdrawal of public ground waters for stock-watering purposes, or for the watering of a lawn or of a noncommercial garden not exceeding one-half acre in area, or for single or group domestic uses in an amount not exceeding five thousand gallons a day, or as provided in section 2 of this act, or for an industrial purpose in an amount not exceeding five thousand gallons a day, is and shall be exempt from the provisions of this section, but, to the extent that it is regularly used beneficially, shall be entitled to a right equal to that established by a permit issued under the provisions of this chapter: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the department from time to time may require the person or agency making any such small withdrawal to furnish information as to the means for and the quantity of that withdrawal: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That at the option of the party making withdrawals of ground waters of the state not exceeding five thousand gallons per day, applications under this section or declarations under RCW 90.44.090 may be filed and permits and certificates obtained in the same manner and under the same requirements as is in this chapter provided in the case of withdrawals in excess of five thousand gallons a day.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 90.44 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) On a pilot project basis, the use of water for domestic use in clustered residential developments is exempt as described in subsection (2) of this section from the permit requirements of RCW 90.44.050 in Whitman county. The department must review the use of water under this section and its impact on water resources in the county and report to the legislature by December 31st of each even-numbered year through 2016 regarding its review.
     (2) For the pilot project, the domestic use of water for a clustered residential development is exempt from the permit requirements of RCW 90.44.050 for an amount of water that is not more than one thousand two hundred gallons a day per residence for a residential development that has an overall density equal to or less than one residence per ten acres and a minimum of six homes.
     (3) No new right to use water may be established for a clustered development under this section where the first residential use of water for the development begins after December 31, 2015.