Уезд Якима получил более 1,1 млн долларов на создание водного банка

Yakima County will receive more than $1 million from the Washington State Department of Ecology under a new water banking pilot grant agreement authorized by commissioners on Tuesday. The $1,158,500 award represents a significant step toward establishing a water bank in the county. “The county has been working for some time on how we can better address water availability for future growth while also protecting our water resources and supporting our economy,” Public Services Director David Haws told commissioners on Tuesday. “And this grant gives us the resources to actually begin working on that framework for a water bank.” A water bank is a mechanism for managing water resources that allows a jurisdiction to bank water for future uses in areas where existing water rights are fully allocated. “The simplest way to think about the water bank is that the county is creating a long-term water resource that can be managed for the benefit of the people of Yakima County,” Haws said. “Rather than addressing every future water need one project at a time, the county can acquire appropriate water rights, put them into the water bank, and then make that water available for appropriate mitigation when future uses need it. That gives us a proactive approach to water availability for new uses that require mitigation.” The funding will help pay for foundational work on the water bank, including water right due diligence and the development of a formal agreement with Ecology, county ordinances and public facing information and processes that “will ultimately make the program understandable and accessible,” Haws said. It also covers the acquisition of an initial 75 acre-feet of adjudicated water rights, which will be used to seed the water bank. Per Ecology’s requirements, a third of that 75 acre-feet will be permanently dedicated to instream flows for the benefit of fish and wildlife and aquatic resources. The other two-thirds will be available for mitigation for other uses in Yakima County. Haws clarified that the requirement doesn’t apply to water rights purchased outside of the state grant that may be added to the water bank. Haws said he believes a water bank will have a range of benefits, including helping meet state Growth Management Act and water code requirements; providing more predictability for homeowners, businesses and communities; keeping water rights in the basin and building a foundation to meet future water supply needs. “We know Yakima County is going to continue to grow. We have communities that need housing, businesses that need to expand, operations that need to remain viable and local governments that need to plan for the future,” he said. “Water availability is one of the fundamental pieces of that equation, and this grant allows us to start building the infrastructure, both the water rights and the legal and administrative framework, to come together, that will help address those needs responsibly.” Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize Haws to sign the agreement.