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-----Original Message-----

From: L. Katherine Baril

Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 1:38 PM

To: food and farms list serve; Gardening-jefferson.wsu.edu

Subject: [MarketFriends]Water- Capitol press story

Most of you have heard of Ecology's DRAFT instream
flow rule for Jefferson

county's Watershed. . .Ecology has expressed concern that some local food

producers may be using water without having the necessary water rights or

permits. . . They have also agreed that this is NOT just a jefferson County

issue but small food producers are in every county in western washington if

not the State.

During the past week or ten days there have been two public forums, a public

hearing with the commissioners, and the planning unit continues to meet with

Ecology. The county commissioners are developing a policy statement

supporting a section of the watershed plan which would ensure water for

local food production. Ecology has said that they are going to take 6-9

months to re-draft their instream flow policy ---
Planning unit discussions

continue to meet and work together on problem solving.

In the interim, we'd encourage you to 1) become informed 2) be engaged in

the issue and 3) participate in the problem solving at any opportunity you

can including upcoming planning unit meetings and food and farms
meetings.

This article from today's Capitol Press may be of help as a quick overview.

Small-scale farmers face unexpected hurdle water Instream-flow
rules could

unravel fabric of local agriculture

Cookson Beecher

The renaissance in agriculture fostered by small farms that supply fresh,

locally grown food to local communities has run into an unexpected roadblock

in Washington state - one that will probably take a legislative fix to

overcome.

The issue comes down to what Department of Ecology officials describe as the

"illegal" use of groundwater and surface water by some small-scale
farmers.

In the case of water from exempt wells - those that don't need to be

permitted as long as they're not drawing more than 5,000 gallons per day -

some farmers are using water from these wells to water crops and livestock.

Department officials say that's against state statute - no matter how small

the plot they¹re watering may be or how little water they¹re using.

Wendy Balender, the department¹s coordinator for
instream flow rules, said

that although there's an exemption in the case of exempt wells that allows

for the irrigation of lawns as well as gardens up to one-half acre in size,

no such exemption exists for commercial agriculture, no matter its size.

"If it's for commercial agriculture, there¹s no exemption," she
said, adding

that because this is state law, it would take the legislature to change it.

This dilemma surfaced during public meetings about the department¹s
proposed

instream-flow rule for the Quilcene
watershed on the Olympic Peninsula. But

department officials readily concede that this issue is not unique to the

Quilcene.

"We're taking a significant pause in rulemaking on this," said Balender,

adding that this issue extends beyond the Quilcene.
"We¹re changing our game

plan. We want to reach out to stakeholders. We¹re not interested in
shutting

down farmers." Nevertheless, she said that if people are diverting surface

water or groundwater for agricultural enterprises, they need to have a water

right.

"Farmers need to become informed about the water they're using," she
said.

She also said that in the majority of the Quilcene
watershed, there's not

enough water to issue new water rights.

Phil Wiatrak, Ecology Department's watershed lead for
the Quilcene and other

watersheds in the state, said that when this issue was brought up during

public meetings, it caught department officials by surprise.

"We hadn't been aware of it," he said.

Many small farmers were equally surprised, most of them never dreaming that

they were using water illegally to water their crops or livestock.

A key component of the proposed rule in the Quilcene
watershed is the

setting of minimum stream flows for rivers and streams in the watershed,

including Chimacum, Salmon, Snow, Tarboo
and Thorndyke creeks, as well as

the Big Quilcene and Little Quilcene
rivers.

Those instream flows are directed at protecting
salmon.

And while department officials declined to give advice about whether

small-scale farmers using water without official water rights should buy

their seeds for next year¹s crops, they also said that the department is

"quite a ways out" on coming to a decision.

Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan, who has been following this

issue closely, said when it comes to small-scale farmers' use of limited

amounts of water, it comes down to a matter of scale. He hopes that the

Ecology Department can come up with a solution that protects small-scale

farmers and also salmon.

He pointed out that this issue has surfaced during previous legislative

sessions but that in the chaos of law making, it gets overridden by more

pressing issues.

He believes that a solution to this dilemma is essential because small-scale

farmers play an important social and economic role by helping keep land in

open space and supplying people with good local food.

"I support them in this," he said. "They¹re
an asset. They add to the rural

character and the rural economy." Sullivan is proud of successes made by
the

local watershed planning group in reaching consensus on 43 recommendations,

pointing out that the group includes government officials from a wide range

of agencies, scientists, local citizens, and the Jamestown S¹Klallam
tribe.

"I'd hate to see the plan undone with conflict at the end over instream

flows," he said. "We really need to build on our successes instead of

veering toward a heavy-handed regulatory approach." Katherine Baril,

director of Washington State University Jefferson County Extension, said

that the growth of small farms that supply local communities with food is

happening statewide and nationwide "It's a renaissance in
agriculture," she

said. "It¹s good economics for the community, good
for the environment, and

good for food security." The challenge, she said, is to create a
system that

keeps enough water in the streams for salmon, lets people grow local food,

and involves enough trust that people are willing to sit around the table to

solve problems.

Cookson Beecher is based in Sedro-Wooley, Wash. Her
e-mail address is

[email-masked].

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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