From: Hughes,
Sandra (ECY) [mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:20 AM

To: [email-masked]

Subject: Ecology News Release: Ecology begins statewide rulemaking for
rainwater collection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
– June 10, 2008

08-157

Ecology
begins statewide rulemaking for rainwater collection

OLYMPIA –
To clarify regulations governing the collection and use of rainwater, Ecology
is seeking the public’s help in drafting a statewide rainwater rule.

Three open house sessions for
education and public discussion about collecting rainwater for beneficial use
are scheduled this month in Everett, Lacey and Wenatchee.

Ecology doesn’t require
homeowners to obtain water right permits to collect and store small amounts of
rainwater. The new rule for the first time would define how much rainwater can
be collected and used before a permit is required.  The rule isn’t
intended to regulate storage and release of rainwater when no “beneficial
use” will be made of the water.

Under state law, beneficial uses
include recreation, irrigation, residential water supplies and power
generation.

Washington law identifies rainwater
as a water resource of the state. Residential rainwater collection systems can
range from a 50-gallon rain barrel to cisterns of 30,000 gallons or more.
Commercial systems can be much larger. Ecology is seeking public comment on
what the threshold should be for requiring a water right permit for those
systems that could affect the water supply of senior water right holders or
stream flows in some river basins.

Non-potable uses of rainwater
typically include toilet flushing and irrigation for gardens.  In
water-short areas such as the San Juan Islands, some homeowners use rainwater
as the sole source of their water supply. Ecology is especially interested in
encouraging rainwater collection in urban areas like Puget Sound where it can
be used to reduce stormwater runoff and supplement municipal water
supplies.

“A statewide rule would remove
the ambiguity about rainwater collection from existing water law,” said
Ken Slattery, manager of Ecology’s Water Resources Program. “We
want to ensure that collection and storage of rainwater happens in a way that
is consistent with the protection of stream flows and water rights.”

The three open house sessions are
scheduled 6-9 p.m. each day:

*
Tuesday, June 17-- Everett Community College, Jackson Center, 801 Wetmore Ave.,
Everett, WA

*
Wednesday, June 18 – Ecology’s Headquarters in Lacey,  300
Desmond Drive, Lacey, WA

*
Thursday, June 19 – Wenatchee Convention Center,  Coast Wenatchee
Center Hotel, 201 N. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, WA

The new rule won’t affect the
current rainwater permit in the City of Seattle or future permits in San Juan
County.  Here are highlights of those permits:

*
Seattle Public Utilities received a regional water right permit from Ecology to
capture and put to use approximately 23,000 acre-feet of rainwater that falls
on rooftops in areas of the city served by combined stormwater/sewer systems.

*       Beginning this fall,
island-wide water right permits will be issued in San Juan County where some
island residents use rainwater for their water supply.

Read
more about rainwater collection at Ecology’s new rainwater  website:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/hq/rwh.html

###

Media Contacts: Dan Partridge,
360-407-7139, [email-masked]

Kurt
Unger, Ecology rule writer, 360-407-7262, [email-masked]

For more sources on rainwater
harvesting:  http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wr/hq/rwh_info.html

Ecology’s Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov

____________________________________________________________________________

Office of Communication and Education Ecology's Home Page:

http://www.ecy.wa.gov

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