County cautious after water ruling
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Grant County Commissioners Richard Stevens, Cindy Carter and Carolann Schwartz at their meeting on Monday.
EPHRATA — Officials in Grant County are taking a “wait-and-see” approach to a recent state Supreme Court ruling that prevents the drilling of “exempt” wells if the well could affect the flow of water through a river or in a lake.
According to Grant County Planning Director Damien Hooper, the effects of the court’s Hirst ruling will have to be examined “watershed by watershed,” though Grant County does not fit the mold of the water-soaked, west side counties the ruling likely affects the most.
“We’re a dry county,” Hooper told the Grant County commissioners Monday. “We get eight inches of rain per year.”
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in early October that Whatcom County was bound by the state’s Growth Management Act to review all well applications — even formerly exempt wells — and reject any application that would impair “in-stream” flows of water on the Nooksack River.
Under Department of Ecology rules, wells were exempt from permit requirements if they provided water for livestock, one or several homes, a half-acre garden, or industrial or irrigation purposes (with a 5,000-gallon-per-day limit for all of these except livestock).
As a result, Whatcom County banned all new well drilling that could affect water flows on the Nooksack.
Hooper said the ruling could mandate hydrological studies for every new well drilled in the state, given that the state standard for impairment is very strict — what Hooper called “the one-molecule standard.”
As befits a desert, Grant County is not covered by one of the state’s several in-stream flow rules, and there’s very little moving surface water in the county, Hooper said.
“Crab Creek could count,” he said.
Hooper said his office has been dealing with phone calls from anxious residents since the day the court issued its ruling.
However the county responds to the ruling, Hooper said officials should work closely with the Department of Ecology before the county “rolls anything out.” He also expects the state legislature will likely work to resolve this ruling in its next session.
“This water issue is so big and complex,” he told commissioners. “Permit-exempt wells are only 1 percent of ground water statewide.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.