BILL REQ. #: H-1738.1
| State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2013 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/22/13.
AN ACT Relating to providing options for local communities to balance growth of the community with water resource goals; amending RCW 90.42.120, 58.17.110, and 90.44.050; adding a new section to chapter 36.01 RCW; adding new sections to chapter 90.54 RCW; and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 36.01 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) A county legislative authority may by ordinance establish
quantity limits for new uses of water related to single or group
domestic uses in an amount not exceeding five thousand gallons a day
that are lower than those provided in RCW 90.44.050.
(2) Quantity limits established under this section must be set
either:
(a) No lower than three hundred fifty gallons per day per residence
for single or group domestic use; or
(b) To an amount less than three hundred fifty gallons per day if
that amount is based on a finding that justifies a lower amount as
sufficient to satisfy requirements for public health and safety.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) In watersheds where the department has closed or partially
closed a basin to further appropriation of groundwater, or in areas
where a county anticipates a closure or partial closure, the county
legislative authority may create a limited purpose local water bank
consistent with section 3 of this act. In considering whether a water
bank would be a viable tool in the area, the county legislative
authority shall consider whether there are a sufficient number of
existing water rights in the area to make a water bank successful.
(2) Water banks created under this section serve the purpose of
providing mitigation credits for existing interruptible or new exempt
groundwater withdrawals. The credit must be granted on a one-to-one
ratio. The maximum amount of credit may not exceed, as applicable, the
following:
(a) Five thousand gallons per day;
(b) Lower than three hundred fifty gallons per day per residence
for single or group domestic use; or
(c) An amount less than three hundred fifty gallons per day if that
amount is based on a finding that justifies a lower amount as
sufficient to satisfy requirements for public health and safety.
(3) A seasonal water right must be prorated on a basis of the total
permitted withdrawal divided by three hundred sixty-five days to arrive
at the total expressed gallons per day.
(4) A water right or a portion of a water right placed into a
limited purpose local water bank must be demonstrated to be in
hydraulic continuity with the groundwater to be withdrawn by the new
user and be shown as a real water right by the department, per the
department's transfer processes, before being made available. Water
rights placed into a limited purpose local water bank may only be
purchased on a permanent basis and only for purposes of mitigating
exempt withdrawals consistent with subsection (2) of this section.
(5) Water credits purchased through a limited purpose local water
bank must be affixed to a specific parcel of land to mitigate
interruptible or new groundwater withdrawals consistent with this
section and section 3 of this act. Purchased water credits are
assignable with conveyance of title of the new land parcel to which it
is affixed, but may not be transferred to another parcel. However,
nothing in this section prevents a parcel to which a water credit is
affixed to be subdivided and the water credit prorated amongst the
newly created parcels, as long as no parcel is:
(a) No lower than three hundred fifty gallons per day per residence
for single or group domestic use; or
(b) An amount less than three hundred fifty gallons per day if that
amount is based on a finding that justifies a lower amount as
sufficient to satisfy requirements for public health and safety.
(6) Water credits purchased from a bank must be purchased in the
form of a certificate expressed in a maximum gallons per day withdrawal
format. The price of the certificate is determined by the water right
holder and is a one-time purchase price.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 90.54 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) A limited purpose local water bank may be created by ordinance
adopted by the county legislative authority consistent with section 2
of this act. An ordinance may be adopted only after providing a
thirty-day comment period and at least one public hearing located
within the boundaries of the watershed, or if no suitable location
exists, at the county seat.
(2) The county legislative authority may administer a limited
purpose local water bank or may contract with a water conservancy
board, watershed planning group, conservation district, or other water
purveyor to administer the local water bank consistent with RCW
90.42.120(5). The cost of administering the limited purpose local
water bank may be supported by general fund moneys, real estate excise
tax revenues, or from fees added to the price of water credits
purchased from the bank, or a combination of these sources. Fees
affixed to the water credit price may be calculated to recover the
actual costs of the purchase price of the water credits.
(3) Nothing in this section or section 2 of this act may be
construed to grant the local legislative authority or agency contracted
to administer the limited purpose local water bank any authority to
place conditions on the use of the water credits purchased beyond those
found in existing law or this section.
Sec. 4 RCW 90.42.120 and 2003 c 144 s 4 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The department shall transfer a water right or portion thereof
being administered for water banking purposes from the trust water
(([rights])) rights program to a third party upon occurrence of all of
the following:
(a) The department receives a request for transfer of a water right
or portion thereof currently administered by the department for water
banking purposes;
(b) The request is consistent with any previous review under RCW
90.03.380 of the water right and future temporary or permanent
beneficial uses;
(c) The request is consistent with any condition, limitation, or
agreement affecting the water right, including but not limited to any
trust water right transfer agreement executed at the time the water
right was transferred to the trust water rights program; and
(d) The request is accompanied by and is consistent with an
assignment of interest or portion thereof from a person or entity
retaining an interest in the trust water right or portion thereof to
the party requesting transfer of the water right or portion thereof.
(2) The priority date of the water right or portion thereof
transferred by the department from the trust water (([rights])) rights
program for water banking purposes shall be the priority date of the
underlying water right.
(3) The department shall issue documentation for that water right
or portion thereof to the new water right holder based on the
requirements applicable to the transfer of other water rights from the
trust water rights program. Such documentation shall include a
description of the property to which the water right will be
appurtenant after the water right or portion thereof is transferred
from the trust water (([rights])) rights program to a third party.
(4) The department's decision on the transfer of a water right or
portion thereof from the trust water (([rights])) rights program for
water banking purposes may be appealed to the pollution control
hearings board under RCW 43.21B.230, or to a superior court conducting
a general adjudication under RCW 90.03.210.
(5) In determining the price that the recipient of a transferred
water right must pay in order to participate in a water banking
program, the administer of the water bank must consider, and
proportionally set costs based on, the depth of the applicant's
proposed well and the distance of the proposed well from any surface
water bodies.
Sec. 5 RCW 58.17.110 and 1995 c 32 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The city, town, or county legislative body shall inquire into
the public use and interest proposed to be served by the establishment
of the subdivision and dedication. It shall determine: (a) If
appropriate provisions are made for, but not limited to, the public
health, safety, and general welfare, for open spaces, drainage ways,
streets or roads, alleys, other public ways, transit stops, potable
water supplies, sanitary wastes, parks and recreation, playgrounds,
schools and schoolgrounds, and shall consider all other relevant facts,
including sidewalks and other planning features that ((assure)) ensure
safe walking conditions for students who only walk to and from school;
and (b) whether the public interest will be served by the subdivision
and dedication.
(2)(a) A proposed subdivision and dedication shall not be approved
unless the city, town, or county legislative body makes written
findings that: (((a))) (i) Appropriate provisions are made for the
public health, safety, and general welfare and for such open spaces,
drainage ways, streets or roads, alleys, other public ways, transit
stops, potable water supplies, sanitary wastes, parks and recreation,
playgrounds, schools and schoolgrounds and all other relevant facts,
including sidewalks and other planning features that ((assure)) ensure
safe walking conditions for students who only walk to and from school;
and (((b))) (ii) the public use and interest will be served by the
platting of such subdivision and dedication. If it finds that the
proposed subdivision and dedication make such appropriate provisions
and that the public use and interest will be served, then the
legislative body shall approve the proposed subdivision and dedication.
Dedication of land to any public body, provision of public improvements
to serve the subdivision, and/
(b)(i) Permit exempt wells authorized under RCW 90.44.050 may be
used by a city, town, or county legislative body to satisfy the
requirements of this section for the appropriate provision of potable
water to a subdivision as long as total withdrawals from the wells do
not exceed the daily maximum withdrawals allowed under RCW 90.44.050
and do not:
(A) Service a project footprint larger than forty acres if the
wells will be the only source or water available to the project; or
(B) Service a project footprint larger than twenty acres if there
are other water sources available to the project for lawn, garden, and
other outside watering purposes.
(ii) For subdivisions that are proposed with a project footprint
greater than those identified in (b)(i) of this subsection, separate
permit exempt wells must be made available to service each additional
forty or twenty acre increment of project footprint, whichever is
appropriate under (b)(i) of this subsection, so approval by the city,
town, or county legislative body may be granted.
(3) If the preliminary plat includes a dedication of a public park
with an area of less than two acres and the donor has designated that
the park be named in honor of a deceased individual of good character,
the city, town, or county legislative body must adopt the designated
name.
Sec. 6 RCW 90.44.050 and 2003 c 307 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) Except as provided in section 1 of this act and RCW 58.17.110,
after June 6, 1945, no withdrawal of public groundwaters of the state
shall be begun, nor shall any well or other works for such withdrawal
be constructed, unless an application to appropriate such waters has
been made to the department and a permit has been granted by it as
herein provided: EXCEPT, HOWEVER, That any withdrawal of public
groundwaters for stock-watering purposes, or for the watering of a lawn
or of a noncommercial garden not exceeding one-half acre in area, or
for single or group domestic uses in an amount not exceeding five
thousand gallons a day, or as provided in RCW 90.44.052, or for an
industrial purpose in an amount not exceeding five thousand gallons a
day, is and shall be exempt from the provisions of this section, but,
to the extent that it is regularly used beneficially, shall be entitled
to a right equal to that established by a permit issued under the
provisions of this chapter: PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the department
from time to time may require the person or agency making any such
small withdrawal to furnish information as to the means for and the
quantity of that withdrawal: PROVIDED, FURTHER, That at the option of
the party making withdrawals of groundwaters of the state not exceeding
five thousand gallons per day, applications under this section or
declarations under RCW 90.44.090 may be filed and permits and
certificates obtained in the same manner and under the same
requirements as is in this chapter provided in the case of withdrawals
in excess of five thousand gallons a day.
(2)(a) The department may not require withdrawals of groundwater to
be metered or measured for wells authorized under the provisions of
this section constructed prior to January 1, 2012, for single or group
domestic uses that do not exceed withdrawals of five thousand gallons
a day.
(b) This subsection does not apply to wells the department required
to be metered or measured prior to January 1, 2012.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 (1) By passing this act, it is not the
intent of the legislature to change, alter, or otherwise affect the
application of RCW 90.44.050 or any of the exemptions provided in that
statute beyond the plain meaning of the language provided in section 2
of this act and added to RCW 58.17.110.
(2) It is the intent of this act to allow counties the authority
and option to balance growth of the community with water resource goals
by addressing future development criteria in regards to exempt well
withdrawals as per section 5 of this act. As to sections 1, 2, and 3
of this act, it is the intent of this act to allow counties the
authority and option to balance growth of the community with water
resource goals by allowing allocation for the best use of the water
resources available.
(3) No person, judicial body, or administrative agency should
interpret any provisions of this act in a manner that is inconsistent
with these statements of intent.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 8 (1) Section 5 of this act applies to
subdivisions of land prospectively only and not retroactively. It
applies only to causes of action that arise on or after the effective
date of this section.
(2) Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act may be applied to any or all
existing divisions of land that are not developed as of the effective
date of this section.
(3) Section 5 of this act is to be applied retroactively to any
water banks established prior to January 1, 2010.