FINAL BILL REPORT

                 SHB 1744

                         C 162 L 99

                     Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Changing lake outflow regulation.

Sponsors:  By House Committee on Agriculture & Ecology (Originally sponsored by Representatives Schoesler and G. Chandler).

House Committee on Agriculture & Ecology

Senate Committee on Environmental Quality & Water Resources

Background:

Ten or more owners of land abutting on a lake may petition the superior court of the county in which the lake is situated for an order to provide for regulating the outflow of the lake to maintain a specified lake level.  The court is required to hold a hearing and hear any testimony provided on the issue.  If the order is granted, the court also directs the Department of Ecology to regulate and control the outflow of the lake so as to maintain the lake level.

Orders to control lake levels may be requested only on meandered lakes.  A "meander line" is a term used when lands in Washington were originally surveyed.  Lands were sold in blocks of forty acres, but when a lake or other water body was situated on the land, the block would be short of forty acres and would extend to the meander line.  Lakes today may no longer resemble lakes as they were surveyed 100 years ago.  Some have disappeared and some have increased in size.

Summary:

When there are fewer than ten owners of land abutting on a lake, a majority of the owners are authorized to petition a superior court for an order fixing the water level.   The court must notify the Department of Fish and Wildlife before issuing an order fixing the lake level (regardless of the number of owners).  The term "meander" is deleted.

Votes on Final Passage:

House950

Senate490

Effective:July 25, 1999