Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards
In the wake of the Washington state Supreme Court’s ruling in Whatcom County v. Hirst, counties across the state are struggling on how to monitor their groundwater and issue building permits.
Thurston County is stuck in a state of limbo, Commissioner Bud Blake said at a Tuesday work session. Before the county takes any action to set up procedures to monitor the groundwater to issue building permits that hold up to the court’s standards, Blake wants to see what happens in the Legislature and in the courts.
In Hirst, the court ruled counties are responsible for protecting water resources under the Growth Management Act. Because of this, counties are required under the decision to conduct independent water studies to determine if water is available without impacting minimum in-stream flows and senior water rights holders.
Thurston County Commissioner Gary Edwards believes the regulations imposed by the court are an overreach of government.
“Only the rich will be able to live on their estates and everyone else will have to live in the ghettos,” Edwards said. “This is class warfare, this is how I see it.”
Edwards said he it is the government waging the class warfare.
“Money can take care of all these regulations,” he said. “I’m here to stick up for the citizens.”
Across the state, counties have adopted different methods of addressing it, county hydrogeologist Kevin Hansen said. In Pierce County development has been shut down completely, Jefferson County requires meters on all wells and water banks have been set up in Kittitas and Walla Walla counties.
The main source of concern in Thurston County is with permit exempt wells that serve a single family home. The county has about 34,000 permit exempt wells, each have the capacity to pump 280 gallons a day, however the average daily water consumption rate is around 86 gallons a day.
On the other side of the equation, the largest consumer of water in the last 100 years has been irrigation, Hansen said. However in the past 40 years or so it has declined, so a lot of water rights holders are not using their water. Hansen said he is unsure if the water no longer being used for irrigation can be used for another purpose or if it being used by exempt wells.
Thurston County could set up a water bank to mitigate the impacts on instream flows during the summer months, Hansen said. However the Supreme Court is hearing a case to determine if water banks fit the requirements to protect the water.
Blake said shutting down all development like in Pierce County is too drastic. Commissioners John Hutchings and Edwards agreed.
Currently Thurston County will continue to issues permits assuming water is available unless data specifically states it isn’t, Blake said.
Numerous bills have been introduced in the Legislature to address the issues surrounding the Hirst decision. One bill introduced by Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, allows local bodies to set up water banks to mitigate the impacts on flows from exempt wells. It is currently in committee.
Another bill, introduced by Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, allows local governments to rely on the rules from the Department of Ecology. It is currently in committee.
