BILL REQ. #: H-1601.1
State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2013 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 02/22/13.
AN ACT Relating to consolidating a new exempt withdrawal of groundwater into an existing public water system; and amending RCW 90.44.105.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 90.44.105 and 1997 c 446 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1)(a) Upon the issuance by the department of an amendment to the
appropriate permit or certificate of groundwater right, the holder of
a valid right to withdraw public groundwaters may consolidate that
right with a groundwater right exempt from the permit requirement under
RCW 90.44.050, without affecting the priority of either of the water
rights being consolidated. Such a consolidation amendment shall be
issued only after publication of a notice of the application, a comment
period, and a determination made by the department, in lieu of meeting
the conditions required for an amendment under RCW 90.44.100, that:
(((1))) (i) The exempt well taps the same body of public
groundwater as the well to which the water right of the exempt well is
to be consolidated;
(((2))) (ii) Use of the exempt well shall be discontinued upon
approval of the consolidation amendment to the permit or certificate;
(((3))) (iii) Legally enforceable agreements have been entered to
prohibit the construction of another exempt well to serve the area
previously served by the exempt well to be discontinued, and such
agreements are binding upon subsequent owners of the land through
appropriate binding limitations on the title to the land;
(((4))) (iv) The exempt well or wells the use of which is to be
discontinued will be properly decommissioned in accordance with chapter
18.104 RCW and the rules of the department; and
(((5))) (v) Other existing rights, including ground and surface
water rights and minimum stream flows adopted by rule, shall not be
impaired.
(b) The notice required by this section shall be published by the
applicant in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or
counties in which the wells for the rights to be consolidated are
located once a week for two consecutive weeks. The applicant shall
provide evidence of the publication of the notice to the department.
The comment period shall be for thirty days beginning on the date the
second notice is published.
(2) The amount of the water to be added to the holder's permit or
certificate upon discontinuance of the exempt well or approval of a
consolidation under subsection (3) of this section shall be the average
withdrawal from the well, in gallons per day, for the most recent five-year period preceding the date of the application, except that the
amount shall not be less than eight hundred gallons per day for each
residential connection or such alternative minimum amount as may be
established by the department in consultation with the department of
health, and shall not exceed five thousand gallons per day. The
department shall presume that an amount identified by the applicant as
being the average withdrawal from the well during the most recent five-year period is accurate if the applicant establishes that the amount
identified for the use or uses of water from the exempt well is
consistent with the average amount of water used for similar use or
uses in the general area in which the exempt well is located. The
department shall develop, in consultation with the department of
health, a schedule of average household and small-area landscaping
water usages in various regions of the state to aid the department and
applicants in identifying average amounts used for these purposes. The
presumption does not apply if the department finds credible evidence of
nonuse of the well during the required period or credible evidence that
the use of water from the exempt well or the intensity of the use of
the land supported by water from the exempt well is substantially
different than such uses in the general area in which the exempt well
is located. The department shall also accord a presumption in favor of
approval of such consolidation if the requirements of this subsection
are met and the discontinuance of the exempt well is consistent with an
adopted coordinated water system plan under chapter 70.116 RCW, an
adopted comprehensive land use plan under chapter 36.70A RCW, or other
comprehensive watershed management plan applicable to the area
containing an objective of decreasing the number of existing and newly
developed small groundwater withdrawal wells. The department shall
provide a priority to reviewing and deciding upon applications subject
to this subsection, and shall make its decision within sixty days of
the end of the comment period following publication of the notice by
the applicant or within sixty days of the date on which compliance with
the state environmental policy act, chapter 43.21C RCW, is completed,
whichever is later. The applicant and the department may by prior
mutual agreement extend the time for making a decision.
(3) An existing publicly owned and operated group A or group B
water system, as those terms are defined in RCW 70.119A.020, may serve
a proposed new development with a quantity of water that otherwise
would be withdrawn for beneficial use under the permit exemption in RCW
90.44.050. However, not more than five thousand gallons per day may be
provided in this manner by any water system. The existing water rights
for a water system will be increased by the amount of water
beneficially used for that purpose if the following conditions are met:
(a) A determination is made under RCW 58.17.110 or 19.27.097 that
potable water is legally available for single or group domestic use
under the permit exemption in RCW 90.44.050 and that provision of this
water by the existing water system would comply with water resource
rules adopted by the department under chapter 90.54 RCW;
(b) The existing water system does not have water rights in
sufficient quantities to serve the proposed new development and
withdraws water from the same body of public groundwater as would a new
well constructed to serve the proposed new development;
(c) The water system is in compliance with the water use efficiency
requirements of RCW 70.119A.180(4), drinking water rules adopted by the
department of health under RCW 43.70.040, and rules adopted by the
state board of health under RCW 43.20.050(2)(a); and
(d) Within five years of providing a water supply under this
subsection, the water system complies with the applicable requirements
of subsections (1) and (2) of this section and, at such time, provides
the department with metered water use information for the new
development to serve as the basis for quantifying the consolidation.