S-1937

AN ACT Relating to wetlands mitigation projects; amending RCW 90.82.070; adding a new section to chapter 90.74 RCW; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature intends that this act improve the scientific basis for making decisions in site selection for wetlands mitigation projects.

The legislature further intends that this act maximize the cost-effectiveness of public and private investment in compensatory wetland mitigation projects.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The legislature finds that wetlands are important aquatic resources that provide many valuable functions such as flood control, ground water recharge, water filtration, water purification, and erosion control. These functions make them important to protect property and property values, promote quality neighborhoods, and to protect and enhance wildlife and the wetlands' associated ecosystems.

When impacts to wetlands are permitted, the creation, restoration, or enhancement of other wetlands are generally required. The legislature further finds that recent studies of the effectiveness of compensatory wetland mitigation projects show that over seventy percent are failing. The principal reasons stem from failure during the permitting process to adequately investigate the practical relationships between the proposed project and the local water resources that will be associated with it. There has also been a finding that, frequently, the original wetland functioned better than the mitigated wetland, such that a net loss of wetland area and functions frequently occurs in spite of the mitigation project.

Sec. 3. RCW 90.82.070 and 1998 c 247 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:

Watershed planning under this chapter shall address water quantity in the management area by undertaking an assessment of water supply and use in the management area and developing strategies for future use.

(1) The assessment shall include:

(a) An estimate of the surface and ground water present in the management area;

(b) An estimate of the surface and ground water available in the management area, taking into account seasonal and other variations;

(c) An estimate of the water in the management area represented by claims in the water rights claims registry, water use permits, certificated rights, existing minimum instream flow rules, federally reserved rights, and any other rights to water;

(d) An estimate of the surface and ground water actually being used in the management area;

(e) An estimate of the water needed in the future for use in the management area;

(f) An identification of the location of areas where aquifers are known to recharge surface bodies of water ((~~and~~)), the location of areas known to provide for the recharge of aquifers from the surface, and the relationship between these aquifers and nearby surface and ground water; and

(g) An estimate of the surface and ground water available for further appropriation, taking into account the minimum instream flows adopted by rule or to be adopted by rule under this chapter for streams in the management area including the data necessary to evaluate necessary flows for fish.

(2) Strategies for increasing water supplies in the management area, which may include, but are not limited to, increasing water supplies through water conservation, water reuse, the use of reclaimed water, voluntary water transfers, aquifer recharge and recovery, additional water allocations, or additional water storage and water storage enhancements. The objective of these strategies is to supply water in sufficient quantities to satisfy the minimum instream flows for fish and to provide water for future out-of-stream uses for water identified in subsection (1)(e) and (g) of this section and to ensure that adequate water supplies are available for agriculture, energy production, and population and economic growth under the requirements of the state's growth management act, chapter 36.70A RCW. These strategies, in and of themselves, shall not be construed to confer new water rights. The watershed plan must address the strategies required under this subsection.

(3) The assessment may include an identification of the location of areas where wetlands exist, areas that provide the potential for wetlands restoration, and areas with potential for use in wetlands mitigation projects.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 90.74 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department of ecology shall review wetlands compensatory mitigation projects and evaluate the adequacy of hydrological information presented by a project proponent to determine the likelihood of success of the project.

(2) The department may require a hydrological assessment of the site.

(3) The hydrological assessment must be sufficiently detailed to demonstrate that the mitigation site will attain a hydrologic regime to meet the goals presented in the proponent's compensatory mitigation project.

(4) The hydrological assessment should identify the relationship between the proponent's compensatory wetlands mitigation project and the site's existing ground water and surface water.

(5) If a proposed wetlands compensation project targets specific functions, the hydrological assessment must demonstrate that the site will achieve a hydrologic regime needed to develop and support these functions.