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Deschutes WRIA 13 Watershed Planning

by Tom Clingman

A locally driven water resource planning process was established in 1998 by RCW 90.82. It utilizes the State's long-established Water Resource Inventory Area geography. WRIAs in Thurston County include Nisqually WRIA 11, Deschutes WRIA 13, Kennedy-Goldsborough WRIA 14 and Upper Chehalis WRIA 23.

While RCW 90.82 sets up a basic watershed planning process, there is a high level of local discretion in the scope and content of the eventual plans.

WRIA 13 includes the Deschutes basin and the smaller drainages in north Thurston County, from McLane Creek on the west to the Nisqually Reach on the east. A Watershed Planning Committee has been established, comprising local, tribal and state governments and non-governmental representatives from a wide range of interests. Both the Watershed Planning Committee and a Technical Committee have been holding monthly meetings to address issues of water quantity, water quality and fishery habitat.

Key issues currently being addressed include:

• Water supply requirements to meet long-term needs of the region. As a long-range population planning benchmark, the Committee decided to use a medium "full-build out" projection based on the adopted Joint Plans for the various growth areas. Exempt wells (for individual and small group uses up to 5,000 gallons per day) pose a thorny management issue in the rural portions of the WRIA. Long-range impacts of various water use scenarios in the Deschutes basin will be explored via a USGS groundwater model.
• Water rights and potential implications for water demand and stream flow. Complications include the unknown status of many rights included in the DOE database. The volume of groundwater represented in the database is over three times estimated 1988 actual use. For surface water withdrawals, there is virtually no data on actual use compared to the DOE database.
• Instream flow to protect natural resources. In 1980, DOE established an Instream Resources Protection Program for the Deschutes and all the other significant streams in the WRIA, essentially creating a formal water right for instream flow. However, many water rights predate the 1980 action and adequacy of these flows to protect fishery resources is not clear.
• Water quality studies and monitoring have been conducted for several years in the various basins of the WRIA. While some improvements have been achieved, many waterbodies in the WRIA are included on the State's list of "impaired" waterbodies (the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list). -}

  For copies of summary issue papers, dates of upcoming Committee meetings or other information, please contact Tom Clingman, Thurston County Department of Water & Waste Management, at 357-2491 or clingmt@co.thurston.wa.us.

  Tom Clingman works in the Thurston County Department of Water and Waste Management.

  
  

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