By Maralyn Chase
Water is life. Plants, animals, people and cities depend on water to survive. In 2016, the state Supreme Court ruled in Whatcom County v. Hirst, et al., that the county had failed to comply with Growth Management Act requirements to make sure there is enough water, physically and legally, to protect water resources.
Thus far, the Hirst decision has been framed as an urban vs. rural, east vs. west, Republican vs. Democrat issue. Making sure there is enough water for all living things to thrive is sound environmental policy. Senate Republicans’ insistence on a “my way or the highway” approach to this statewide problem is a reckless game of chicken that cannot have any winners, only losers.
It is time for Senate Republicans to stop taking bills hostage, especially the capital budget. There is too much at stake. Our communities are suffering and need the infrastructure investments offered in the capital budget. No community is without its share of problems, from homelessness, to the opioid epidemic, to the need for increases in mental health services. The capital budget cannot be the Hirst decision’s collateral damage.
Let us also not forget the more than $60 million appropriated for “big water” in the capital budget. “Big water” is how our state’s farmers irrigate their 36,000 farms for more than 300 crops each year. By contrast, the Hirst decision is “small water,” affecting developers drilling wells without permits for domestic use into a diminishing aquifer. Without a capital budget, none of the “big water” projects move forward, and the farmers’ crops may not receive the water needed to survive. With a capital budget and the Senate Republican Hirst solution, “big water” and “small water” are satisfied but senior water rights and those held by tribes, referred to as “ancient water,” and water law are in chaos.
The Legislature is no stranger to fundamental disagreements over issues involving water. Central to the Hirst decision are instream flow rules and senior water rights. In the mid-1970s, the state began adopting instream flow rules to protect rivers, streams and other bodies of water from excessive withdrawals of water. The proposed Senate Republican “fix” to this issue would essentially bust water law wide open and subject the state to another lawsuit, and property owners with further delays. We need a compromise that considers the classic interrelationship of land and water. We need integrated efforts at the state and county levels to solve this problem, like those that have been previously reported in this paper.
Water is a precious resource, and the stakes are high for those who are in control of it and those who are in need. There is a long list of powerful stakeholders involved in this issue. Some may truly want a solution that fixes the problem; however, to some it is likely that the problem is worth more than the solution. It is far easier to point the finger of blame when there is no solution, than come to the negotiating table in good faith.
State Sen. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds, is the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Agriculture, Water, Trade &Economic Development Committee.
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