Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 19, 1999
Contact:  Sandi Snell, Governor's Salmon Recovery Office, 360-902-2229

Governor proposes water-law changes to save salmon

OLYMPIA — Gov. Gary Locke today released the first complete draft of the statewide salmon recovery strategy, and called on legislators to begin implementing the strategy by adopting comprehensive legislation to update Washington's antiquated water laws.

At a news conference today in Olympia, Locke released the first complete draft of a salmon strategy developed by his Joint Natural Resources Cabinet over the past year.

The final strategy will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service this summer for approval. However, Locke said he isn't waiting for federal approval to begin efforts to recover salmon runs.

"We know the key to saving salmon and protecting our long-term economic vitality is to solve the water gridlock in this state," Locke said. "Salmon cannot survive in streams that are too polluted, too warm or too shallow — and our communities cannot survive unless we find new sources of water to meet their long-term needs."

Locke's proposed legislation, entitled Water for People and Fish, would make conserving and re-using water a top priority throughout Washington. It also would step up enforcement of water laws and allow greater flexibility in managing water use for current and future needs.

"This legislation focuses on fish, but it's also about the people who are living and working and doing business here in the state of Washington," Locke said. "Salmon and humans both need a plentiful supply of clean, cool water to survive. These steps to protect salmon are necessary to secure the preservation of our state's natural resources."

Key provisions of the legislation include:

Improving agriculture irrigation systems to conserve water.
Creating efficiency standards for water use.
Launching projects to re-use treated water where drinking-quality water is not needed.

Providing funding to purchase privately held water rights and place them in "water trusts" to help restore stream flows.
Authorizing private entities to hold trust water rights, and thus augment the statewide salmon recovery efforts.
Establishing a system to account for groundwater withdrawals by new wells.

Allowing the Department of Ecology to process changes to water rights ahead of requests for new water rights, thus making it easier to free up water for salmon recovery, economic development or other uses.
Hiring more water-enforcement personnel and raising penalties from a maximum of $100 to a maximum of $25,000.

The legislation is scheduled for hearings next week in the Senate Environmental Quality and Water Resources Committee. The House Agriculture and Ecology Committee also is scheduling hearings.

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