Jessica Kuchan, an attorney with the Seattle-based Mentor Law Group, sometimes gets emails at 3 a.m. inquiring about water rights.
“I know that (landowners) have been up all night thinking about it,” Kuchan said, referring to the process of finding water for properties in Upper Kittitas County since the Washington Department of Ecology halted new, uncompensated groundwater withdrawals in the area in July 2009. “For a lot of people, they want to get through this process, so they can build their retirement home, or their dream home.”
Kuchan and the Mentor Law Group administer two of 11 private water banks in Kittitas County that allow property owners in many areas to purchase portions of senior surface water rights to offset impacts their new groundwater withdrawals may have on water levels in rivers and lakes.
Since April 2010, the state Department of Ecology has approved enough groundwater usage to create 1,623 new residential water connections and 76.25 acre-feet of outdoor irrigation using water banks in Kittitas County.
The Taylors
Sara and Dale Taylor of Renton hope to soon be among the landowners able to offset their proposed use of a groundwater well by using Kittitas County’s water banks. The couple purchased a four-acre lot in the Swauk Creek area near state Route 970 in 2005. The site includes spectacular 360-degree views of mountain ranges in both the summer and winter.
Dale Taylor can still remember boyhood camping trips to Kittitas County and the fun he had.
“It’s beautiful, no doubt, but my favorite part is just that there’s a lot less people,” said Sara Taylor, who enjoys the laid back pace of Kittitas County life.
The Taylors dreamt of building a house on their lot in Kittitas County to retire, but on July 16, 2009, the state’s new groundwater rules cast doubt on that dream.
The Taylors lost access to the well they had drilled in 2006. Groundwater wells put into use before 2009 were not affected by the change in withdrawal rules.
But the Taylors have not yet begun construction on their property, and their well had not been put into use.
Without water, the couple said they couldn’t obtain a building permit, and their property was rendered worthless. They were frustrated.
“We were just kind of in the dark for a long time not really knowing if we were ever going to be able to use the well or get a permit,” Sara Taylor said.
The change
Residential property owners in Washington, according to a state law, have traditionally enjoyed an exempt status that allows them to withdraw up to 5,000 gallons of groundwater per day and irrigate up to 1/2 an acre without having to obtain a water right.
The 2009 freeze of groundwater withdrawals effectively ended this exemption in an area of Upper Kittitas County between Indian John Hill and Snoqualmie Pass for landowners whose water usage is not backed by a senior water right, according to information distributed by the Department of Ecology. Most private well usage occurs in unincorporated areas of Kittitas County.
Landowners can back water usage with a water right by transferring an existing water right to their property. Large water rights transfers between farmers and developers use this process all the time, state Department of Ecology communications manager Joye Redfield-Wilder said.
But obtaining a water right is more difficult for people who own small parcels of land, who make up the majority of those affected by changes to the exemptions for small scale water users. Redfield-Wilder says it is unlikely those property owners will find someone willing to directly sell a portion of a water right small enough to fit their needs.
Water banks set up in Kittitas County allow owners of unused senior surface water rights to transfer their right into a trust, which ensures water that would have been used stays in streams and rivers. They can then sell portions of that water right to small-scale water users hoping to back their water usage with a senior water right.
“If you are just an individual, it’s a lot easier to go through a water bank,” Redfield-Wilder said.
The banks
The first of Upper Kittitas County’s water banks was created in February 2010 with a senior water right owned by the Suncadia resort.
There are now 11 private water banks operating within the county, eight of which market water rights to the general public through the Department of Ecology’s Kittitas Water Exchange website. The other three Kittitas County water banks belong to developers who provide water rights for their own developments and clients, Redfield-Wilder said. These include water banks operated by Central Cascade Land Co., Lloyd Land Development and Northland Resources.
The Northland Resources water bank, owned by developer Sapphire Skies, is by far the county’s most active.
According to Department of Ecology statistics, the Northland water bank accounts for more than 1,000 of the 1,623 new water connections and about 70 of the 76 acre-feet of outdoor irrigation facilitated by water banks since April 2010.
The Swiftwater Ranch water bank (which primarily provides water rights in the Teanaway and Upper Kittitas basins) made seven new water connections possible during that time. Meanwhile, the Suncadia affiliated Lamb and Anderson water bank (operating in the Upper Kittitas Basin) provided the water rights for 252 new connections. The rest of the county’s water banks provided rights for 181 connections.
Developer impact
Sapphire Skies owner Sean Northrop said his company experienced delays and additional expenses following the 2009 change to Upper County groundwater rules.
