Dept. of Ecology reports to the Legislature on water rights

After debating several bills in the 2020 legislative session, the Legislature directed the Department of Ecology (Ecology) to gather stakeholders to study the contentious issue of trust water rights. The recently released report summarizes Ecology’s findings and recommendations informed by meetings of the Advisory Group on Water Trust, Banking, and Transfers, which ran from April to July 2020.

Although Ecology is soliciting public comments on the report through November 15, the report is final and will not be changed. Instead, all comments will be added to the report’s appendix and submitted to the Legislature on December 1.

More information on the process and meeting materials are on Ecology’s website.