HOUSE BILL REPORT

ESSB 5984

As Amended by the House

BYSenate Committee on Agriculture (originally sponsored by Senators Newhouse and Barr)

Modifying water conservation procedures in the Yakima river basin.

House Committe on Agriculture & Rural Development

Majority Report:  Do pass with amendments.  (12)

      Signed by Representatives Rayburn, Chair; Kremen, Vice Chair; Nealey, Ranking Republican Member; Baugher, Chandler, Doty, Grant, Jesernig, McLean, H. Myers, Rasmussen and Youngsman.

House Staff:Kenneth Hirst (786-7105)

AS PASSED HOUSE APRIL 12, 1989

BACKGROUND:

The state's water rights laws are administered by the Department of Ecology.  One of these laws, the Surface Water Code, permits the Department to reserve water for future beneficial uses and for minimum flows and levels.  These reservations constitute appropriations of water in the same manner as appropriations of water for other uses and have a priority date which is the date the reservation is established. Other provisions of the state's water rights laws require the relinquishment of a water right for certain nonuse unless the cause of the nonuse satisfies exemptions specified by statute.

Public Law 96 - 162 authorizes the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to study means of enhancing water supplies in the Yakima River basin.

SUMMARY:

GENERAL.  Provisions of law are established regarding water rights which apply only to waters of the Yakima River basin.

The Department of Ecology is expressly authorized to acquire trust water rights, including storage rights, by means other than condemnation.  The rights may be acquired on a temporary or permanent basis.  The Department may make such other arrangements and contracts as appropriate to ensure that trust water rights can be exercised to the fullest extent possible.

"Trust water rights" are any rights acquired by the Department for management in the Yakima River basin trust water rights program.  They include the net saved water portion of a water right that is no longer required to be diverted for beneficial use due to the installation of a water conservation project that improves an existing system.  Such saved water must be available without impairing existing water rights, reducing the ability to deliver water, or reducing the supply of water that otherwise would have been available to other water users.  Trust water rights acquired through the expenditure of federal funds must be treated in the same manner as those resulting from the expenditure of state funds.

CONTRACTS.  The Department is authorized to enter into contracts with water users for the purpose of providing moneys for water conservation projects in exchange for the trust water rights created as a result of the assistance.  If the water right is to be acquired from an individual whose right is appurtenant to land lying within an irrigation district, the approval of the board of directors of the district must be obtained.  If the right is to be acquired by the Department from an irrigation district, satisfactory evidence of the district's authority to represent the water right holders must be submitted to the Department.

TRUST WATER RIGHTS PROGRAM.  A certificate of water right must be issued in the name of the state for each trust water right acquired by the Department and with the priority date of the right from which it originated.  Such a right must be placed in the Yakima River Basin Trust Water Rights Program which is managed by the Department.  These rights may be modified as to purpose or place of use or point of diversion, including modification from a diversionary to a nondiversionary use.  They may be held for instream flows and/or irrigation use.  A schedule for the distribution and management of these rights must be developed annually for the coming irrigation season.

USE OF TRUST RIGHTS.  A trust water right may not be exercised unless the Department has determined that no existing water right will be impaired in any manner by such an authorization.  The Department must publish a notice regarding each proposal for such a use.  The provisions of the Surface Water Code regarding the appurtenance of a water right to the land or place used and regarding transfers of water rights do not apply to trust water rights.  The provisions of state law requiring the relinquishment of a water right for nonuse also do not apply.

OTHER.  The policies and purposes of this program do not replace or amend the policies or purposes for which referendum and emergency water supply funds may be used.

It is not the intent of this legislation to facilitate the transfer of water rights from one irrigation district to another or to impair existing water rights.

Fiscal Note:      Requested March 28, 1989.

House Committee ‑ Testified For:    Senator Newhouse; Jim Trull, Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District; Jeff Dunning, Ellensburg Water Company; Hedia Adelsman, Department of Ecology; Judy Turpin, Washington Environmental Council; and Marlyta Deck, Washington Cattlemen's Association.

House Committee - Testified Against:      None Presented.

House Committee - Testimony For:    (1) The bill establishes the principle that water saved through conservation projects can be held in trust by the state and used to address water supply inequities in the Yakima basin during drought years.  (2) The bill encourages the federal government to fund conservation projects.  (3) Because the Yakima basin's water rights are controlled by the superior court during the basin's general adjudication, this bill will establish a program that will be dormant until there is a settlement of the water claims and implementing federal legislation has been enacted.

House Committee - Testimony Against:      None Presented.