PDFWAC 173-501-040

Surface water source limitations to further consumptive appropriation.

(1) The following table indicates the status of streams, tributaries and lakes affected by this chapter.
Source
Name
Tributary
To
Former
Administrative
Status
Status
Under
Regulation
Period of
Closure
Flow
Established
Anderson Creek
Nooksack River
low flow
partial year closure
May 1-Oct. 31
Bells Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
closure
year round
Bertrand Creek
Nooksack River
closure
closure
year round
Black Slough
Nooksack - South Fork
low flow
low flow
 
 
California Creek
Drayton Harbor
closure
closure
year round
Canyon Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Canyon (Lake) Creek
Middle Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Chuckanut Creek
Chuckanut Bay
low flow
closure
year round
natural flow
Colony Creek (incl. Whitehall)
Samish Bay
open
closure
year round
natural flow
Cornell Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Dakota Creek
Drayton Harbor
closure
closure
year round
Deer Creek
Barrett Lake (Tenmile)
closure
closure
year round
Fishtrap Creek (incl. Double
Ditch)
Nooksack River
closure
closure
year round
Fourmile Creek
Tenmile Creek
closure
closure
year round
 
Gallop Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Hutchinson Creek
South Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Johnson Creek
Sumas River
closure
closure
year round
Kamm Ditch/Stickney Slough
Nooksack River
closure
closure
year round
natural flow
Kendall Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
closure
year round
Maple Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Nooksack River -
mainstem
Bellingham Bay
low flow
minimum flow
(new flow)
 
Nooksack River -
Middle Fk.
Nooksack River
low flow
minimum flow
(new flow)
 
Nooksack River -
North Fk.
Nooksack River
low flow
partial year closure
Sept. 1-Oct. 31
Nooksack River -
South Fk.
Nooksack River
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Oyster Creek
Samish Bay
open
closure
year round
natural flow
Padden Creek
Bellingham Bay
open
closure
year round
natural flow
Porter Creek
Middle Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 1
Racehorse Creek
North Fork Nooksack
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Saar Creek
Vedder Canal-Canada
open
closure
year round
Saxon Creek
South Fork Nooksack
open
closure
year round
natural flow
Silver Creek
Nooksack River
low flow
partial year closure
May 1-Oct. 31
Skookum Creek
South Fork Nooksack
low flow
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
Smith Creek
Nooksack River
low flow
partial year closure
May 1-Oct. 31
Squalicum Creek
Bellingham Bay
closure
closure
year round
 
Sumas River
Vedder Canal-Canada
closure
closure
year round
Tenmile Creek
Nooksack River
closure
closure
year round
Terrell Creek
Birch Bay
open
partial year closure
May 1-Oct. 31
Thompson Creek
Glacier Cr./N. Fk.
open
partial year closure
July 1-Oct. 31
natural flow
Unnamed Stream -
Elder Ditch/Scott
Ditch
Nooksack River
low flow
low flow
 
 
Unnamed stream -
White Creek
Colony Creek
closure
closure
 
 
Whatcom Creek*
Bellingham Bay
open
closure
year round
natural flow
Wiser Lake Creek
Nooksack River
low flow
partial year closure
May 1-Oct. 31
Lummi Indian Reservation
Streams
Tenmile Creek
closure
closure
 
 
Barrett Lake
closure
closure
 
NA
Green Lake
Fourmile Creek
closure
closure
 
NA
Lake Terrell
Terrell Creek
closure
closure
 
NA
Lake Whatcom**
Whatcom Creek
court-ordered
lake level
closure
year round
 
Wiser Lake
Wiser Lake Creek
closure
closure
 
NA
For streams listed as "natural flow," insufficient data are available to develop instream flows outside the closure period. Water right applications for consumptive use will be considered on a case by case basis in consultation with the departments of fisheries and game; tribes will also be notified.
Streams which are not specifically listed in this regulation are affected by the regulation if they are tributary to streams or lakes listed herein; otherwise such streams are not affected.
*
No exemptions. See WAC 173-501-070(2).
**
Lake Whatcom and its tributaries are closed to all further consumptive appropriation; however, any water right applications for consumptive use which were on file with the department of ecology on August 7, 1985 shall be exempt from the closure through the period extending one year from the effective date of this chapter.
(2) When a project (as described in WAC 173-501-030(5)) is proposed on a stream that is closed to further appropriations, the department shall deny the water right application unless the project proponent can adequately demonstrate that the project does not conflict with the intent of the closure.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 90.54.020 (3)(a) and 90.54.040 (1) and (2). WSR 85-24-073 (Order 85-19), § 173-501-040, filed 12/4/85.]