BILL REQ. #:  S-1190.1 

Read first time 02/10/11.   Referred to Committee on Environment, Water & Energy.

     AN ACT Relating to protecting groundwater; amending RCW 18.104.055; adding a new section to chapter 43.21A RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that the state's groundwater resources provide vital environmental and economic benefits for all the citizens of the state. Increasing demands for utilization of groundwater resources and increased understanding of the interrelationship of the state's groundwaters and surface waters requires adequate funding for monitoring and analyzing groundwater levels and programs relating to managing groundwater uses. It is appropriate that all new well users contribute some of the funding for these management programs. Therefore, the purpose of this act is to authorize an additional fee upon the construction of certain new wells to help fund groundwater data management and mapping, as well as other groundwater management activities.

Sec. 2   RCW 18.104.055 and 2005 c 84 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) A fee is hereby imposed on each well constructed in this state on or after July 1, 2005.
     (2)(a) The fee for one water well, other than a dewatering well, with a minimum top casing diameter of less than twelve inches is two hundred dollars, plus the surcharge imposed by subsection (4) of this section. This fee does not apply to a ground source heat pump boring or a grounding well.
     (b) The fee for one water well, other than a dewatering well, with a minimum top casing diameter of twelve inches or greater is three hundred dollars, plus the surcharge imposed by subsection (4) of this section.
     (c) The fee for a resource protection well, except for an environmental investigation well, a ground source heat pump boring, or a grounding well, is forty dollars for each well.
     (d) The fee for an environmental investigation well in which groundwater is sampled or measured is forty dollars for construction of up to four environmental investigation wells per project, ten dollars for each additional environmental investigation well constructed on a project with more than four wells. There is no fee for soil or vapor sampling purposes.
     (e) The fee for a ground source heat pump boring or a grounding well is forty dollars for construction of up to four ground source heat pump borings or grounding wells per project and ten dollars for each additional ground source heat pump boring or grounding well constructed on a project with more than four wells.
     (f) The combined fee for construction and decommissioning of a dewatering well system shall be forty dollars for each two hundred horizontal lineal feet, or portion thereof, of the dewatering well system.
     (g) The fee to decommission a water well is fifty dollars.
     (h) The fee to decommission a resource protection well, except for an environmental investigation well, is twenty dollars. There is no fee to decommission an environmental investigation well or a geotechnical soil boring.
     (i) The fee to decommission a ground source heat pump boring or a grounding well is twenty dollars.
     (3) The fees imposed by this section shall be paid at the time the notice of well construction is submitted to the department as provided by RCW 18.104.048. The department by rule may adopt procedures to permit the fees required for resource protection wells to be paid after the number of wells actually constructed has been determined. The department shall refund the amount of any fee collected for wells, borings, probes, or excavations as long as construction has not started and the department has received a refund request within one hundred eighty days from the time the department received the fee. The refund request shall be made on a form provided by the department.
     (4) A surcharge of two hundred dollars is imposed upon each water well subject to the fees in subsections (2)(a) and (b) of this section. The fees paid under this subsection must be deposited in the groundwater management account created in section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 43.21A RCW to read as follows:
     The groundwater management account is created in the state treasury. All receipts from fees paid under RCW 18.104.055(4) must be deposited in the account. Moneys in the account may be spent only after appropriation. Expenditures from the account may be used by the department for programs relating to the management of groundwater resources of the state, including groundwater mapping and resource assessment.