BILL REQ. #: H-4396.4
| State of Washington | 60th Legislature | 2008 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/05/08.
AN ACT Relating to groundwater monitoring and assessment; amending RCW 43.27A.130; adding a new section to chapter 90.54 RCW; creating a new section; and recodifying RCW 43.27A.130.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 43.27A.130 and 1988 c 127 s 26 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The department of ecology may make complete inventories of the
state's water resources and enter into such agreements with the
director of the United States geological survey as will ((insure))
ensure that investigations and surveys are carried on in an economical
manner.
(2) The department shall enhance the ambient groundwater monitoring
and assessment program in order to accurately characterize long-term
trends in the state's groundwater levels and water quality. The
program may be improved in phases and must include but is not limited
to:
(a) Standardizing methods, quality assurance, and data management
practices for measuring groundwater levels and quality; and
(b) Creating a central database and migrating existing department
of ecology and water resource inventory areas data to the central
database by June 2009.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 (1) By June 30, 2011, the department of
ecology shall conduct two voluntary pilot groundwater assessments in
water resource inventory areas experiencing serious or critical
withdrawals. One pilot groundwater assessment must be initiated in
western Washington and one pilot groundwater assessment in eastern
Washington.
(2) By June 30, 2009, the department of ecology shall prepare a
data gap analysis that evaluates existing groundwater information on
water levels and water quality within each water resource inventory
area of the state. The analysis must include:
(a) Summarizing historic and current monitoring of ambient
groundwater levels and water quality across the state;
(b) An evaluation of the completeness and quality of the data and
conclusions produced from such monitoring;
(c) An identification of groundwater basins where water quantity
levels are of concern but no monitoring is being conducted;
(d) An evaluation and recommendations for quality controls and
other protocols associated with data collection and management;
(e) A compilation and summary of existing studies of groundwater
levels, water quality, and monitoring activities; and
(f) Recommendations on the components necessary to establish a
comprehensive, statewide ambient groundwater monitoring and assessment
program and the funding necessary to implement the program.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 RCW 43.27A.130 is recodified as a section in
chapter 90.54 RCW.