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KITTITAS COUNTY <br />DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS <br />PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />STUDY SESSION DATE: July 11, 2022 <br />TOPIC: Water Right Deed Conveyance to Ecology <br />ACTION REQUESTED: Direction to staff <br />LEAD STAFF: <br />Arden Thomas <br />RECOMMENDATION: <br />Direct staff prepare quitclaim deeds and Real Estate Excise Tax Affidavits and send <br />correspondence to Ecology. <br />BRIEFING SUMMARY: <br />• Kittitas County has been purchasing water rights, which are managed in the <br />Department of Ecology Trust Water Right Program. <br />• To fully manage our acquired water rights for: instream flow, back mitigation, <br />and future mitigation, Kittitas County must convey water right deeds to the <br />department of Ecology. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />On May 15, 2014, Kittitas County entered into a settlement agreement with Ecology, <br />Futurewise, the Kittitas County Conservation Coalition, and Ridge Association. In that <br />Settlement Agreement, Kittitas County committed to acquire, with all due diligence, <br />sufficient water rights suitable for mitigation to provide "Total Water Supply Available" <br />mitigation for existing domestic groundwater users within the County. The quantity of <br />water identified in that Settlement Agreement needed to mitigate for historic use was 800 <br />acre-feet of consumptive use water. Kittitas County has also been purchasing water to be <br />used to mitigate new uses, which we sell through the county water bank. <br />On February 12th, 2018, Kittitas County and Ecology entered into a Master Trust Water <br />Right Agreement for Back Mitigation to memorialize the process Kittitas County and <br />Ecology would use to process and account for water rights acquired per the terms of 2014 <br />Settlement Agreement. As identified in the Master Trust Water Right Agreement, <br />Kittitas County will execute and deliver to Ecology a recorded quit claim deed and Real <br />Estate Excise Tax (BEET) form complying with RCW 64.04.050. In turn, Ecology <br />agrees to maintain an accounting of these water rights in the Trust Water Rights Program, <br />entering a water right into its Settlement Obligations accounting once it received a deed <br />and REET form from Kittitas County. The Master Trust Water Right Agreement for Back <br />Page 1 of 3 <br />PUBLIC WORKS BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION STAFF REPORT <br />