2021-04-12-minutes-public-works-study-session

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ra Facilitation & Implementation, Kittitas County! Kittitas County, WA The Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) formed a Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) to formulate recommendations on the quantity of water to be issued with a mitigation certificate from a county -owned and operated water bank. Serving as facilitator, Aspect is working with KCPHD and the CAC to evaluate water quantity issues affecting residents choosing to mitigate their water usage through the bank and formulate a recommendation to the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners on the gallons per day usage that will be allowed, land use, conservation, and policy terms under which mitigation certificates would be sold. The Kittitas County Commissioners adopted the CAC recommendations, and opened an over-the-counter water bank to serve water right permit -exempt well users in the County. Aspect is now assisting Kittitas County with a similar permit -based water bank for non-exempt users, including agency coordination, SEPA compliance, and water right permitting. Consumptive Use Pilot Design, Kittitas County Kittitas County, WA Aspect is providing technical design, review, and oversight of a new consumptive use (CU) pilot in Kittitas County to demonstrate lower CU associated with indoor domestic use in rural areas. Currently, the Kittitas Rule specifies 30% CU, and recent Ecology ESSB 6091 guidance suggests CU values as low as 10% may be achieved. The Aspect pilot, in conjunction with a local developer and Kittitas County, will use state-of-the-art septic drainfield design and metering to demonstrate CU may be on the order of 3% or less, significantly reducing mitigation quantities in key tributaries where water supplies may be limiting. This project also includes a mitigation drainfield with trucked water that can offset the minor CU impacts to rural water supplies. Little Spokane River Water Bank and Hirst Response - Spokane County Environmental Services I Spokane County, WA Aspect assisted Spokane County and the WRIA 55 Planning Group in updating the existing watershed plan for the Little Spokane Basin as required by ESSB 6091 and RCW 90.94. our role includes: Leading facilitation of the Planning Group meetings Supporting development of exempt well demand projections • Identifying potential water rights for acquisition • Identifying and prioritizing streamflow mitigation projects, including managed aquifer recharge (MAR) • Supporting the County with applying for Streamflow Restoration Grant funding for water right acquisitions and MAR projects Leading the watershed plan update process Prior to the passage of ESSB 6091, Aspect conducted a water banking feasibility study in WRIA 55. The comprehensive study evaluated bank formation and operation options, regulation and risk, and costs and benefits—all informed by a Policy Advisory Group facilitated by Aspect that consisted of the WRIA 55 counties (Spokane, Stevens, and Pend Oreille), water purveyors, Ecology, and Tribal representatives. Aspect supported the County in setting up the water bank management structure; acquiring and transferring water rights for bank seeding, which included due diligence of water right extent and validity; preparing Reports of Examination for transfers of water right acquisitions to the State Water Right Program; and evaluating groundwater/surface water interaction to support bank management. As part of this work, Aspect conducted screening -level extent and validity analyses on hundreds of water rights in the basin to identify bank -seeding options. Aspect also supported the County in formulating a response to the Hirst decision prior to the passage of ESSB 6091, including addressing legal and physical impairment from exempt wells. Water Bank viii'4JaLek• Rights Services - City of White Salmon] White Salmon, WA In the early- and mid -2000s the City of White Salmon (City) faced shortages in annual quantities authorized under its existing water rights, leading to a Department of Health moratorium on new water service connections until sufficient supply could be obtained. Aspect has worked with the City since 2008 to secure new water rights and new water supply sources, allowing the City to remove the moratorium and positioning them to serve future