BILL REQ. #:  S-5191.2 

READ FIRST TIME 02/07/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to groundwater monitoring and assessment; amending RCW 43.27A.130; adding a new section to chapter 90.54 RCW; and recodifying RCW 43.27A.130.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 43.27A.130 and 1988 c 127 s 26 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The department of ecology may make complete inventories of the state's water resources and enter into such agreements with the director of the United States geological survey as will ((insure)) ensure that investigations and surveys are carried on in an economical manner.
     (2) The department shall complete a data gap analysis by June 30, 2009, to evaluate groundwater monitoring activities across the state, on a basin-by-basin basis. This study will inform future decisions to develop an effective groundwater monitoring program. This study must include:
     (a) Summarizing historic and current monitoring of ambient groundwater levels and water quality within each WRIA as defined in RCW 90.82.020;
     (b) Evaluating the completeness and quality of the data and conclusions produced from such monitoring;
     (c) Identifying priorities for enhanced groundwater monitoring where water levels and water quality are of concern;
     (d) Evaluating and recommending quality controls and other protocols associated with data collection and management;
     (e) Summarizing and compiling existing studies of groundwater levels, water quality, and monitoring activities; and
     (f) Recommending the components necessary to establish a comprehensive, statewide ambient groundwater monitoring and assessment program and the funding necessary to implement the program.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   RCW 43.27A.130 is recodified as a section in chapter 90.54 RCW.