Washington Administrative Code
Title 173 - Ecology, Department of (See also Titles 197, 317, 372, and 508)
Chapter 173-166 - Emergency drought relief
Section 173-166-080 - Temporary transfers of water rights
Universal Citation: WA Admin Code 173-166-080
Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
(1) Ecology may approve emergency water right changes in order to effect a transfer of water between willing parties. Water right changes can include purpose of use, place of use, and point of diversion.
(2) Examples of possible water right transfers include, but are not limited to, the following situations:
(a) A water right holder may
choose to reduce irrigated acreage and transfer the unused water to another
water right holder whose normal water supply is decreased by drought
conditions. The acreage irrigated with transferred water on the second parcel
may not exceed the acreage reduction on the first parcel.
(b) A water right holder may transfer a water
right from an out-of-stream use to an instream use.
(c) Municipalities or other public bodies may
transfer water between one another.
(3) Requests for water right transfers will be processed under the following criteria:
(a)
Applicants must be conducting a previously established activity within a
geographical area declared to be suffering from drought conditions.
(b) An application for a water right transfer
will be processed if the recipient water user is receiving, or is projected to
receive, less than seventy-five percent of normal water supply, as the result
of natural drought conditions, for the previously established activity and
experiencing, or is expected to experience, undue hardship as a
result.
(c) All approvals by
ecology for water right transfers under this chapter will be temporary in
nature and will be for the purpose of alleviating drought conditions. These
approvals must terminate no later than the expiration date of the order which
declares the area to be suffering from drought conditions.
(d) Water right transfers between willing
parties may be approved when an emergency exists only if such a transfer will
not affect existing rights whatsoever, or reduce flows or levels below
essential minimums, or adversely affect federal and state interests including,
but not limited to, power generation, navigation, and water quality.
(e) Water rights may be transferred within
areas declared to be suffering from drought conditions. Water rights may also
be transferred from outside an area declared to be suffering from drought
conditions into an area declared to be suffering from drought conditions,
provided such a transfer of water is physically possible and is consistent with
the provisions of
RCW
90.03.380,
90.03.390,
and
90.44.100.
Water rights will not be transferred from within an area declared to be
suffering from drought conditions to outside that area.
(f) To expedite water transfers during
drought conditions, ecology can approve temporary changes in water rights
without compliance with requirements for:
(i)
Notice of newspaper publication.
(ii) The State Environmental Policy
Act.
(g) In those cases
where temporary water transfers require court approval while general
adjudication proceedings are ongoing, ecology will assist the court in
coordination, maintaining communications, and providing technical assistance
when requested.
(h) The temporary
changing of a water right under this chapter will not be admissible as evidence
in either supporting or contesting the validity of water claims in a general
adjudication of water rights in the state of Washington.
(i) Ecology, plus all state and local
agencies with authority to issue permits or other authorizations in connection
with emergency actions authorized under the provisions of this chapter, will
have fifteen calendar days from the date of receipt of the respective
application(s) in which to provide a decision to the applicant. Agencies with
authority to review applications for temporary water right transfers, such as
under RCW 75.20.050, and affected Indian tribes will have fifteen calendar days
from the date ecology receives the application in which to provide ecology with
an opinion as to any effects of the proposed transfer.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Washington may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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