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Water Right Priority Date Qi Qa <br />G4-25791C(A) 3/6/1978 26.5 GPM 11.5 <br />G4-257910(B) 3/6/1978 26.5 GPM 11.5 <br />54-83089-J 12/17/1973 0.06 CFS 48.5 <br />The water rights for the SkiTur Community (54-83039) are listed under the attached <br />"Revised Order Limiting Post-1905 Diversions During Periods of Water Shortage," which <br />states that: <br />"..., in any year in which the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation implements prorationing, <br />those parties who have rights to divert water from the Yakima River or its <br />tributaries with a priority date later that May, 101905 shall cease all diversions of <br />water from the Yakima River or its tributaries during the period of time when a <br />proratable water user receives less than its full entitlement." <br />The Department of Health has authorized the following number of connections for the <br />group A and B systems respectively, even though these rights are Junior and subject to <br />curtailment. <br />Water System Name Group I-- Approved Calculated <br />Connections Connections <br />Ski Tur Valley A 65 39 <br />Star Water B 52 5 <br />In the same area, Yakama Nation also holds a time immemorial water right (54-84764) for <br />"the minimum instream flow necessary to maintain fish and other aquatic life." <br />YN-DNR formally requests reassessment of the number of authorized connections for these <br />water systems. The water rights relied upon by these two water systems clearly threaten <br />Yakama Nation's Treaty -reserved rights, proratable users and ultimately violate the ESNs <br />prohibition on take. Continued development of the water systems using unreliable water <br />rights puts the entire community at risk and exacerbates an existing problem. Action is <br />needed by the Departments of Ecology and Health to avert this undesirable outcome. <br />Thank you, <br />Philip Rigdon, Superintendent <br />Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources <br />Encl: Revised Order Limiting Poat-1905 Diversions During Periods of Water Shortage, <br />Case No. 77-2-01484-5, March 10, 2005 <br />