Finds that: (1) Water resources are needed to meet present and foreseeable future needs for uninterruptible irrigation and municipal water requirements in the counties adjacent to the mainstem, to be allocated under this act;

(2) Through the implementation of best management practices, hydropower mitigation fees, and the purchase of additional conservation measures within mainstem tributaries, waters in the mainstem should be used to meet present and foreseeable future irrigation and municipal water requirements, while protecting instream resources;

(3) A program that provides incentives to water right holders to adopt best management practices and irrigation best management practices for the purpose of achieving water savings and water use efficiency on the mainstem is sound public policy that will provide significant environmental and economic benefits, including the availability for instream purposes of waters not appropriated from the mainstem for consumptive use purposes; and

(4) The adoption and implementation of a hydropower mitigation fee program will establish a reliable long-term revenue source to fund needed new water conservation projects in the Yakima river basin or other tributary basins.