Support for the Odessa Sub-Area Aquifer also approved

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The state Legislature has passed a historic plan to manage the Columbia River, where competing interests have battled for decades over water for fish, farmers, power and growing communities.

The measure — which focuses on conservation and building new reservoirs — passed the Senate Tuesday on a 48-0 vote, with one lawmaker excused. It now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who has said she will sign it. The House approved the measure late Monday on a bipartisan 94-4 vote.

"It's a new day for water policy," Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-Seattle, told Department of Ecology Director Jay Manning in the Senate wings after the vote.

Manning was joined by Gregoire, who hugged Poulsen and other lawmakers just as she had after the House vote the night before.

The governor was expected to sign the bill Thursday.

The plan is contingent on a 10-year, $200 million bond package that must be approved by the Legislature before the session ends March 9.

The measure also creates a Columbia River Basin water supply development account that is to be financed by $10 million appropriated by the Legislature last year. An additional $10 million from the supplemental capital budget is expected to be approved by the end of session.

Water users and conservationists have been battling for decades over water rights for the Columbia and its tributaries, with one side seeking more water for communities and commerce while the other fights for sufficient water for threatened fish runs. The dispute becomes particularly heated during drought years.

Sen. Joyce Mulliken, R-Moses Lake, remains cautious even though she is very excited about the bill. Mulliken said she spoke with Gregoire after the bill passed, thanking her for her interest and the fact the bill passed, but making it clear the policy bill is meaningless without the money.

"I will be very excited when the bond bill is passed that provides the money for future storage development," Mulliken said, adding the Potholes Reservoir is included.

Support for the Odessa Sub-Area Aquifer was also passed at the same time, she noted.

"Two different issues, but I think we finally have gotten the attention of our west side colleagues," Mulliken said, pointing to the fact the bill passed with no dissenting votes.

"That's a good sign that this really leaned more heavily toward Columbia River users," she continued. "Certainly there is a little tiny piece for fish and stream flows, but two-thirds of the water is for farmers, land owners, communities, for our region's economy and for us. Which is far better than past years' proposals, which only wanted to give us a third and take two thirds for fish."

But Mulliken cautioned if the money bill, which should be coming out as budget negotiations are finalized, is not passed by legislature, the policy bill does not go into effect.

"For me, to vote on it was a leap of faith, because I'm asking my constituents to trust me because I voted for this," Mulliken said. "We have voted for water in the past and were let down … TO have an opportunity to have a return on the money our farmers and taxpayers have spent over the years, it's very important."

A new state plan has been in the works since 2001, when former Gov. Gary Locke announced the Columbia River Initiative.

Gregoire said the negotiations went almost to the last minute, with a deal finally brokered Saturday between stakeholders who were told that if they couldn't reach an agreement, there wouldn't be a bill.

"I'm not going to tell you it hasn't been a bumpy road. It really has," she said Tuesday. "But it was truly one of the most bipartisan examples of working together I've seen."

The measure seeks to make more water available by increasing storage in new reservoirs. Two-thirds of the water would go to users like farmers and cities, and one-third would go back to the river for fish.

"This bill was right down the middle," said one of the stakeholders, John Stuhlmiller, assistant director of government relations at the Washington Farm Bureau. "No position is harmed by this bill — not water right holders, and not environmentalists. It helps everybody."

While new storage options are considered a long-term fix for water problems in the basin, regional agreements provided for under the bill would allow for some short-term solutions. Those agreements would rely on new conservation projects to offset new withdrawals.

Sen. Bob Morton, R-Orient, said the bill "will launch into the future opportunities of water that have currently and previously not existed.

"This is particularly significant because of the redress it will give to agricultural, municipal and recreational needs," said Morton, who served with Poulsen and other Senate and House lawmakers on a task force created last year to negotiate the plan.

Some Eastern Washington farmers are still concerned about efforts to buy their water rights for growing municipalities, he said.

"That needs yet to be addressed," Morton said. "It's a major piece of legislation that needs to be brought before us."

Gregoire said other pieces of the water puzzle will fall into place later.

"What we need to do is show storage works," she said. "Once we can show that picking good locations, good projects, show that storage actually can be made to work … then we expand out to the other areas."

The water storage bill is House Bill 2860.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.leg.wa.gov

Governor: http://www.governor.wa.gov

Columbia Basin Herald reporter Matthew Weaver contributed to this report.