Ord-2019-010 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Kittitas County does, under its authority from the Growth Management Act, have a duty and the authority to protect ground and surface water quantity and quality. To fulfil the duty of the County under the Settlement Agreement and the Growth Management Act, Kittitas County implemented the Permanent Measures in Kittitas County Code Chapter 13.35.027 on December 2, 2015 requiring all new uses of groundwater to be mitigated and metered within the Yakima River drainage (Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA)) 39. Kittitas County operates a water banking and metering program in the Yakima River Basin to provide rural domestic water mitigation to new groundwater uses to offset local impacts as well as the Total Water Supply Available in the Yakima River, as measured at the Parker gauge. Water use is metered, monitored and reported to Washington State Department of Ecology annually. Kittitas County offers two mitigation packages in the Green and Yellow zones of the Kittitas County Water Bank service area. The package available to each customer will be determined by the parcel's irrigation availability. Package A, only available to customers with access to other outdoor irrigation, will offer 275 gallons per day indoor domestic use only and Package B, only available to customers without access to outdoor irrigation, will offer 275 gallons per day indoor domestic only with 25 gallons per day for outdoor use up to 500 square feet. The packages offered through the Kittitas County Water Bank were determined by a Citizen's Advisory Committee and adopted by the Board of County Commissioners. The County continues to seek and acquire additional water holdings throughout the county and expand its service areas. Kittitas County has acquired enough senior water rights, suitable for mitigating new domestic uses, to meet the development projections in the county for 20 years within the Kittitas County Water Bank service area. This number was conservatively calculated assuming only Package B mitigation certificates would be issued, although the trend is more of a 60/40 split, with package A being more prevalent. Private water banks have overlapping and additional service areas within Kittitas County that offer mitigation that is not calculated in the 20-year development projection. Kittitas County's water portfolio includes close to 800 ac-feet of consumptive use water to mitigate for existing domestic ground water users within Yakima River Basin of the county. Kittitas County does not require mitigation or metering for exempt well uses within the Columbia River Basin (WRIA 40). LU-P39: The County will continue to support development and implementation of the Yakima Basin Integrated Management Plan to support water supply for agricultural lands. LU-P40: Kittitas County may place limitations on the establishment of new uses of groundwater based on the county's authority to protect ground and surface water. LU-P41: Kittitas County finds that new uses of groundwater that are not mitigated in the Yakima River drainage basin threaten to interfere with senior water rights and stream flows and create a public health and safety threat that warrants application of provisions set forth in Kittitas County Code to existing lots as allowed by RCW 58.17 .170(3). LU-P42: In the rural areas, development that is less dense and features larger lot sizes will be favored. Page 18