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4 CapitalPress.com July 24, 2015 Drought Skagit County irrigation districts on half rations Advocate feels mix of gratitude and frustration By DON JENKINS Capital Press CONWAY, Wash. — In a normal year, Skagit County farmers draw irrigation water from the West Coast’s third largest river to supplement rain and wells. Rain this year has been scarce for several months, and the river is flowing at a record low level. Water deliveries to farmers with interruptible rights have been curtailed to protect fish, wildlife and scen- ery. Farmers in two irrigation districts, which serve rough- ly 15,000 acres near where the river empties into Puget Sound, will get about half the water they need, said Bran- don Roozen, executive direc- tor of the Western Washing- ton Agricultural Association, advocates for the region’s growers. Roozen says he’s resigned to not obtaining more water transfers from senior right holders. “I don’t anticipate making any more progress,” he said. “When we need the river the most, we don’t have access.” The water shortage in northwest Washington, where tractors are known to bog down in mud in June, reflects the growing severity of the state’s drought. Through unprecedented water transfers, Irrigation Districts 15 and 22 have been able to obtain for administra- tive costs 6.4 million gallons a day from the city of Anacortes and Skagit Public Utility Dis- trict, which have senior rights to the river. Roozen said farmers need 12.5 million gallons a day. He said he’s grateful to the city and PUD, but also frustrated. “The reality is, it’s just not Don Jenkins/Capital Press Steve Elde, a Skagit County farm manager and irrigation district commissioner, clears debris away from a pump that draws water from the Skagit River to irrigate crops. Farmers are allowed to turn on the pump for two six-hour intervals each day. enough,” he said. Skagit County farmer and dairyman Jason Vander Kooy said he lost pasture to the drought, but he still has groundwater and access to a municipal waterline. “Over- all, it’s not a complete disas- ter,” he said. Farmers had their wa- ter rights curtailed because the river is flowing at below 10,000 cubic feet per second through Mount Vernon, a few miles upriver from the irri- gation districts. On Monday, the river was flowing at 7,600 cubic feet per second. The previous record low for the date was 8,340 cubic feet per second, set during the 1977 drought. Too keep the river from dropping lower, the irrigation districts can only pump three hours before and after high tide — a total of 12 hours a day. Once the pumps are shut off, the water recedes in ditch- es and never reaches some land. Roozen calculates that if the districts were allowed to pump around the clock to draw one-quarter of 1 percent of the river, farmers would have their water. He questions what harm it would cause and argues that the water would sustain the valley’s agricultur- al base. “We’re the last possible use for freshwater before it turns to salt,” he said. “We wouldn’t even scratch the surface of taking water from there.” Skagit PUD General Man- ager Robert Powell said he sympathizes, but the PUD and city had to be mindful that 24-hour pumping could have invited challenges to any wa- ter transfer. The river has long been the subject of litigation among county residents, the Washington Department of Ecology and the Swinomish Tribe. The tribe in 2013 won a court ruling stopping ecol- ogy from reserving water for future use by farms, homes, businesses and industries be- cause the uses might impair minimum instream flows. Powell said 12-hour a day pumping was a compromise. “Can we help? Yep. Is it going to be everything everybody wants? No.” DOE approved the water transfers, and the agency’s Northwest region director, Tom Buroker, said he was im- pressed that the city and PUD stepped up to help agriculture. He also said he understood the frustration of farmers as they watch the river roll past. “It’s an unfortunate situa- tion. Hopefully, this is not the new normal,” he said. Northeast Washington declared California proposes historic federal drought disaster area $1.5M fine for taking water Region once seen as well positioned for summer By DON JENKINS Capital Press Northeast Washington, once a bright spot in assessing the state’s drought picture, was de- clared July 15 a federal disaster area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The five counties — Okan- ogan, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Spo- kane and Stevens — cover 13,000 square miles between Idaho and the Cascade Range. Eight counties in south-central and southeast Washington were previously designated drought disaster areas on June 24. “We’re doing late-August work in the middle of July,” Stevens County rancher Ted Wishon said. “It’s hard to maintain your program when you’re lacking in water.” Some 41 percent of the state has now been declared primary federal disasters areas. Produc- ers in counties that border di- saster areas also are eligible to apply for federal drought relief, including low-interest loans. Northeast Washington’s wa- ter supply outlook last spring was favorable compared to the rest of the state. The Upper Co- lumbia snowpack, though be- low average, was much higher than elsewhere in Washington. Watersheds in the region were generally expected by state and federal officials to have more than 75 percent of normal sum- mer water supplies. The area was not included in the state’s first drought declaration in mid-March, and most of the region was also not included in a second declaration a month later. The region, however, went through heat waves and re- ceived little spring rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor classified all or portions of the five coun- ties as being in a severe drought beginning May 19, just after Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state- wide drought emergency. “The weather pretty much just changed it,” said Okanogan County Farm Bureau President Jon Wyss. “There’s a reason farmers don’t go to Las Vegas. Every morning they wake up and roll the dice.” By FENIT NIRAPPIL Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California regula- tors on Monday proposed a first-of-its-kind, $1.5 mil- lion fine for a Central Valley irrigation district accused of illegally taking water during the drought. It would be the first such fine against an individual or district with claims to water that are more than a centu- ry-old, known as senior wa- ter rights holders. Entities with those rights have long enjoyed immunity from cut- backs. The fine reflects the ris- ing severity of California’s four-year drought that has prompted the state to de- mand cutbacks from even those who have been histori- cally sheltered from manda- tory conservation. The State Water Resourc- es Control Board said state data showed the Byron-Beth- any Irrigation District in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area diverted water from a pumping plant even after it was warned in June that there wasn’t enough legally available. The district serves 160 farming families in three counties in the agricul- ture-rich Central Valley and a residential community of 12,000 people. It has sued the state over the board’s June warning to immediately stop taking wa- ter because the watershed was running too dry to meet demand. The district esti- mates its farmers will see a $65 million loss in crops that include cherries, walnuts and grapes. District general manager Rick Gilmore said he did not know a penalty was coming and wasn’t aware of the de- tails. The water that the state Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press In this photo taken July 15, 2015, water flows down a canal near Byron, Calif. The California State Water Resources Control Board said it’s proposing a fine of $1.5 million against the Byron-Bethany Irrigation District for allegedly taking water from a pumping plant after it was warned that there was not enough water. believes was taken might have been supplemental sup- plies purchased by the dis- trict, he said. Andrew Tauriainen, a prosecutor for the water board, said there was no in- dication the district had been taking such supplemental water from other sources be- fore the alleged diversions began. The board has sent out more than 9,000 notices across the parched Central Valley warning of short wa- ter supplies. Unexpected rainfall in Southern Califor- nia over the weekend hasn’t affected enforcement. State inspectors have conducted about 1,200 in- vestigations in the past year but only took action on two. Officials say Byron-Bethany was targeted because it was publicly defying the board and diverting water. State officials anticipate cracking down on more dis- tricts and individuals this summer. “Our resources are some- what limited here, and we are taking our cases as we can get them and as we can de- velop them,” Tauriainen said. SAGE Fact #115 Between 1913 and 1922 the first modern highway in the Pacific Northwest was built along the south side of the Columbia River. The scenic Columbia River Highway connected Eastern Oregon with Portland and the Willamette Valley. Visit the SAGE Center: Sunday - Thursday 10am - 5pm Friday & Saturday 10am - 6pm 30-4/#6 30-4/#6 Byron-Bethany has 20 days to request a hearing be- fore the water board to con- test the fine, although it’s unclear how long it could take to resolve the case. The maximum penalty the five-member board could as- sess is $5 million, depending on how the water was used. The water board issued a cease-and-desist order last week against the West Side Irrigation District to imme- diately stop taking water. That district also had filed a lawsuit challenging the board’s cuts, but the state says it’s not retaliating against the agency. Courts have not settled the question of whether the board has authority to de- mand cuts from farmers, cities and individuals with California’s oldest claims to water. Until policy changes take effect next year, senior rights holders must only report wa- ter use every three years and aren’t required to meter con- sumption. They have strong incen- tives to fight any state-or- dered curtailments because they will likely see similar cuts in future dry years if they yield in this drought, said Jeffrey Michael, an economist at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Meanwhile, some users keep drawing water despite warnings by the state board. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission intends to continue diverting water for city-operated Camp Ma- ther near Yosemite Nation- al Park unless it receives a cease-and-desist order, spokesman Tyrone Jue said. Board officials said they could not confirm if San Francisco was under investi- gation over the matter. LEGAL PURSUANT TO ORS CHAPTER 819 Notice is hereby given that the following vehicle will be sold, for cash to the highest bidder, on 7/26/2015. The sale will be held at 10:00am by Wiltse Towing, LLC 3120 Cherry Ave NE Salem, OR 2005 GMC Sierra 1500 PU VIN= 1GTEC14X35Z208712 Amount due on lien $1,940.00 Reputed owner(s) Raymond Pederson Legal-29-2-2/#4