The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners have agreed to join a group of local and Walla Walla County stakeholders in opposing a decision made last month by the Walla Walla Watershed Management Partnership that could adversely impact junior water rights holders across the Touchet Valley.

The commissioners decided at their regular workshop on Monday to pledge up to $5,000 of county funds at this time in support of this opposition group, with the understanding that money donated to the cause from all stakeholders will be used proportionally.

The Walla Walla Watershed Management Partnership has agreed to lease water from the banked water rights of the Touchet Eastside-Westside Irrigation District to the Washington State Department of Ecology in exchange for money to make required improvements to the district’s water-intake system, which will cost thousands of dollars.

Ecology has agreed to this deal, but they have stated that the leased water will not be counted as part of the stream flow during the period of the lease, a decision that has junior water rights holders all the way up the Touchet River into Columbia County in a panic.

For Dayton resident Bill Warren, who holds junior water rights at Warren Orchard on North Touchet Road, this could spell disaster. He spoke to commissioners Monday as a member of the opposition group. He stated that many junior water rights holders, and other supporters, are joining the opposition and have pledged funds to help out.

Junior water rights holders are barred from tapping into the river for irrigation when the river gets low enough – a likely scenario this year, since Governor Jay Inslee declared a drought for three regions in Washington on March 13, including the Olympic Peninsula, the Yakima and Chelan areas, and the Walla Walla Basin. As of March 25, snowpack in the Walla Walla Basin was at 32 percent of normal.

“If water were to be diverted away from the junior water right holders within our county and Walla Walla County, the consequences would be severe,” the commissioners stated in a letter they composed this week. Commissioner Mike Talbott, who sits on the partnership board of directors, will read the letter into the record at the monthly partnership meeting Tuesday.

“As an example, farmers who have high-value, long-season perennial crops specifically depend upon the water from the Touchet River; if they are required to curtail or stop diverting water from the river, their losses could be catastrophic,” the commissioners wrote. “Tourism in Columbia County would be affected, hay crops could be reduced or lost, and livestock grazing could be affected, which could result in loss of revenue and jobs in Columbia County.”

Columbia County Commissioners were careful to state that the opposition movement is not a lawsuit at this point, but their letter to the watershed partnership states: “We are aware that legal counsel has been obtained by stakeholders in both Columbia and Walla Walla counties, and we as a board have voted to join the stakeholders in their opposition.”

All three commissioners agreed at Monday’s workshop, however, that if the matter came to litigation, they would need to seek legal counsel for the county before continuing to support the opposition in this matter.