BILL REQ. #:  S-1381.1 

Read first time 02/15/2005.   Referred to Committee on Water, Energy & Environment.

     AN ACT Relating to the designation of water quality use-based standards for federal reclamation projects; and amending RCW 90.48.540.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 90.48.540 and 2004 c 214 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department, as resources allow, shall at the request of the United States bureau of reclamation or federal reclamation project irrigation districts cooperatively conduct a use attainability analysis of water bodies located within the boundaries of the federal reclamation project.
     (2) If necessary because of the use attainability analysis conducted under subsection (1) of this section, the department, consistent with applicable federal water quality laws and regulations, shall adopt rules designating uses for water bodies within the federal reclamation project that support beneficial uses consistent with the primary authorized project purposes of constructed storage and conveyance facilities and other water transport systems and that recognize the unique site-specific characteristics of the arid and semiarid regions of the state of Washington where federal reclamation projects are located. The rules shall also recognize the need to deliver project irrigation water and to construct, operate, and maintain project facilities.
     (3) The rules adopted by the department shall support and protect the federal reclamation project water supplies and provide for the need to construct, operate, and maintain the federal reclamation project as a system unimpaired by incompatible, nonagricultural aquatic uses. The use attainability analysis conducted under subsection (1) of this section and the resulting designated uses may be applied to all other water bodies within the boundaries of the federal reclamation project that have similar construction, operation, and maintenance characteristics without the need to conduct separate use attainability analysis to establish the designated uses of such water bodies.