Notice applies to outdoor water use only—mostly irrigation
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| The curtailment notice affects junior water right holders. |
After an unseasonably warm and dry May, we have notified 93
junior water right holders in the Chehalis River basin that their access to
surface water for irrigation is curtailed until streamflows increase in the
state’s second largest watershed and drainage basin.
The water users have rights that are junior to (younger
than) the 1976 instream flows set by state rule for the basin. Those junior
water right holders need to stop diverting water from the Chehalis, Newaukum,
Satsop, and Wynoochee rivers when flows are not being met to keep the water in
the stream. We sent notification letters to the 93 junior water right holders
on May 31.
This is the fourth consecutive year we have issued
curtailment orders or notices for junior surface water irrigation uses in the
Chehalis basin to comply with the regulation requirements. The curtailment
notice does not apply to indoor water use or water for livestock.
As we’ve done in prior years, our staff will periodically
visit the basin and are available to answer questions in person, by telephone,
or email.
Check our website to see if instream flows are being met:
Unusual May weather
The Chehalis basin receives most of its runoff from rain,
with some minor contributions from snowpack at higher elevations in headwater
streams in the southern Olympic Mountains. Streamflows in the basin are lower
than normal for this time of year. It’s been warm and dry in the Chehalis River
basin and there is little melting snow left to compensate for the tightening
water supply.
Instream flows protect rivers
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| The Newaukum River |
We are required by law to protect senior water right users
and adopted streamflows for rivers and streams to make sure there is enough
water to meet the needs of people, farms, and fish. One of the most effective
tools for protecting streamflows is to set instream flows, which are flow
levels adopted into rule.
An instream flow rule was established in 1976 for Chehalis basin
streams. Since then, newer water rights have been issued that are junior to the
flow rule. When flows drop below the adopted levels, junior water rights (those
established after the instream flow rule was adopted into law) can be
temporarily interrupted in an effort to keep the protected amount of water in
the stream. This means junior water rights are curtailed from withdrawing water
until streamflows rise above the established flow levels.
Setting instream flows protects our streams, rivers, and
lakes from new withdrawals that would harm instream resources including fish,
wildlife, recreation, aesthetics, water quality, and navigation.
By Kristin Johnson-Waggoner, Water Resources Program
