New irrigation district law may save farmers money

OLYMPIA - New legislation regarding irrigation districts clarifies the status of hydropower generators in the canals, which may translate to a cost-savings for farmers.

The Columbia Basin has several thousand miles of canals, noted Mike Schwisow, of the Washington State Water Resources Association, which lobbied on behalf of the bills.

"We think it only makes sense to recapture some of that energy as it moves through the canals and put it back into the system," he said.

While charged by the federal government to maintain the canals, irrigation districts did not have the authority to regulate or place new hydropower facilities before the passage of HB 1417, which clarifies their rights and duties.

This legislation makes sure they're kept "in the loop," Schwisow said.

"The concern was that third parties could come in and work directly with the federal government to place hydropower on a canal and the irrigation district wouldn't know," he said.

Yet they'd still be liable for costs if a canal had problems because of a hydropower generator on it.

Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, was the prime sponsor of HB 1417, which passed unanimously out of the house and with only one senator voting against it this session. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill recently.

The measure addressed a number of concerns that irrigators had about outdated regulations, Manweller said, but the section clarifying hydropower was most important.

"Now a farmer can go out and put a little hydropower generator and generate their own power," he said.

In the future, Manweller thinks the bill will translate to a savings for farmers who pay assessments similar to property taxes to the irrigation districts.

A related piece of legislation, HB 2733, was sponsored by Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, and signed into law by the governor on Wednesday. It qualifies hydropower produced by irrigation canals as a source of renewable energy, making the electricity they generate more valuable.

Under Initiative 937, passed in 2006 by Washington voters, electric utilities have to obtain an increasing percentage of their power from a renewable source. The initiative's writers did not count hydropower, since Washington already relies heavily on dams for power generation and would have had less incentive to find alternatives.

This makes the power that irrigation districts could sell more valuable, Schwisow said.

"So if the district can get revenue from other sources that's less they need to get from the landowners to operate," Schwisow said.

The Columbia Basin Project currently has seven hydropower-generating facilities but they were built in the 1980s, Schwisow said, and still won't count as renewable energy sources under the new law.

But he said the Columbia Basin Project is moving forward on eight new facilities which they recently received permits for, and which will fall under the new categorization and are expected to generate about 25 megawatts all together.

Manweller said HB 1417 is meant to streamline the administration of irrigation districts.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, helped Manweller sponsor the bill. She called it one of several "puzzle pieces starting to fit together."

"The bill will help not only the (irrigation) districts work with federal and state government more efficiently, but allow the farmers themselves to expand how they can add their own resources to this," Warnick said.

Manweller's bill also gives irrigation districts the choice of whether or not to foreclose on properties, and increases the price at which they're required to publish notice before having a surplus sale.

Schwisow noted the 13th Legislative District has more land within irrigation districts than any other in Washington.

"Water is the livelihood for many in our region. No matter what the snow pack is in the mountains, or if we are dealing with cracks in dams, the demand for water doesn't decrease," Manweller said. "Anything we can do to improve the flow of water, or even the administration of it, is helpful to all of us in the 13th District, not just the irrigators."