If Lewis County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock wanted to laugh all the way to the water bank, she’d have to laugh for well over a year.
In November 2021, Pollock first expressed her vision of the county creating its own water bank — a conceptual collection of water rights that can be stored, sold and used for mitigation. In a Tuesday meeting, the Board of County Commissioners took only its second step toward the bank’s establishment after hiring consulting firm AMP Insights for the project earlier this year. An unanimous vote from Pollock and her seatmates compelled the firm to pursue a water bank grant from the Department of Ecology, which could earn the county up to $2 million.
According to AMP Insights Director Andrew Purkey, Lewis County wants the bank as a form of insurance for future success as the area grows. If “stored” in the conceptual bank, rights can be sold to municipalities, businesses or communities to see their goals to fruition.
Out of Lewis County’s two major river systems, the Chehalis and Cowlitz, two sellers are looking to turn a profit on the water rights they no longer need.
The first is TransAlta. As the Centralia Coal Mine seeks to end all operations in the next couple years, TransAlta’s water bank — which is the largest year-round bank in the state at 28,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Skookumchuck River — is looking attractive to developers and municipalities. The cities of Centralia and Chehalis are in a joint deal to purchase some of those rights currently.
The second is a chunk of rights accumulated north of Toledo on the Cowlitz River. The rights were intended to be used for agriculture in what was likely a blueberry farm that never came to fruition, according to Purkey.
In what Jamie Morin, an attorney at Confluence Law who works with AMP Insights, called “cursory” and “preliminary” conversations, both of those sellers expressed possible interest in selling rights to Lewis County.
The Ecology grant asks for a letter of intent from the seller and buyer of the water rights to show how the grant money will be used in a bank’s establishment. The deadline for submission is Feb. 1, so Morin said AMP Insights and the county would have to move “very fast” to get the sellers on board and have the work finished in that timeline. The commissioners voted unanimously to approve that work going forward.
Another point in Tuesday’s meeting raised by Housing and Infrastructure Specialist Eric Eisenberg, who advises the board on the water banking process, was that the Cowlitz River is one of few in the state not considered over-allotted by Ecology. Essentially, there is enough water physically available for more water rights to be owned. However, Ecology isn’t processing new requests, mostly because the department doesn't have the staff.
As the board was scheduled to meet with their state legislators the following day, it was decided one of the legislative priorities the county would ask of their lawmakers was to help Ecology do its job, through adequate funding or otherwise.
“That is a priority,” said newly-elected Commissioner Scott Brummer, adding the small communities of his district, which is most of southern and eastern Lewis County, will not be able to grow and develop successfully without being able to acquire water rights.
‘Clear as Mud’
Water law is complicated. Earlier this year, Mike Gallagher, of the southwest regional office of Ecology’s water resource program, told The Chronicle that while laws theoretically make the world better and more equal, “Water law is not equal and it’s not fair.”
His sentiment was echoed by Brummer on Tuesday, who noted while the water banking process sounds beneficial for Lewis County, he didn’t “like it.”
Several misconceptions the commissioners said they’ve heard from constituents were raised in the meeting. Commissioner Sean Swope mentioned people had expressed worries that if the county established a water bank, other water rights holders would be forced to meter their water usage. This would be undesirable because water rights are subject to a use-it-or-lose-it rule called “relinquishment.”
AMP Insights assured Swope this was not the case. Eisenberg similarly stressed the importance that constituents know the water banking process is entirely voluntary. The county will seek to add rights to the bank that it purchases from sellers. In general, ordinary citizens with water rights will not be affected by this process.
After joking that the explanation of water law was “clear as mud,” Swope commended his seatmate, Pollock, for taking initiative on this project, saying he sees the benefit and appreciates her proactive approach.
“When she first brought it up, I was like, ‘What?’ But just her persistence working on this, I think it’s going to be a huge value add to our county,” Swope said.
To read more about water rights and Lewis County’s interest in them, check out https://bit.ly/water-rights-chronline.
