Getting YCWRS Water for Ahtanum Process

The issue:

Until County personnel can make a legal statement that water is available for new uses in the upper Ahtanum for YCWRS, the County cannot issue new building permits using YCWRS as water mitigation.

John Vaccaro, a consultant hired by Yakima County who previously designed the USGS groundwater study and model, prepared a groundwater analysis for the county. What he showed was in both tributaries, geologic faults folds in the Grand Ronde basalt formations create aquifers in the upper ends of those tributaries that are distinct from the larger basin aquifer system. The water rights the County holds are specific to that larger aquifer system, and so we would need water rights from within those upper basins in order to make a finding that water was legally and physically available for new development – just remember both of those basins have been through three adjudications! Securing senior water rights in the upper portion of the Ahtanum Basin is especially problematic due to the rights held by the Yakama Nation to all surface water after July 10 in any given year, the time of year when water is in most short supply. This means that there are no water rights available during that time period.

The Solution:

Purchase property in Ahtanum, construct a new well, design, water rights transfer, and other associated activities which will allow mitigation water be available through YCWRS. These could be acquired through purchase, trade, donation, transfer of existing rights and/or other mitigation strategies.

As part of the solution, Yakima County is applying to an Ecology Water Banking Grant. This grant is focused on the development of a water bank owned by Yakima County to address various water management needs, including municipal use, and compliance with regulatory obligations such as the Growth Management Act (GMA). Some of the goals include:

• Funding to prepare a Trust Water Rights agreement for the Yakima County Municipal Bank, purchase water rights, and transfer senior rights to the County Municipal Water Bank.
• Meeting obligations under the Growth Management Act (GMA), as Yakima County is uniquely bound by the requirements of the GMA without prior assistance like other counties.
• Establishing a "charter" for the bank to define public purposes, eligible water rights, retention of rights in the County, usage purposes, and eventual transfer of rights into a permanent trust.
• Managing previously acquired water rights used for governmental purposes but not classified as municipal rights under current policy.
• Providing water supply for the County and municipal jurisdictions for the required horizon under GMA.
• Transfer rights to deep wells in Ahtanum and Wenas watersheds to mitigate instream impacts from new consumptive uses, opening up the basin for YCWRS.

The Timeline:

Note that an exact timeline is difficult to predict, however the county continues to move forward in implementing a solution.