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Ecology home | Water Resources Advisory Committeee | WRAC meetings

 Last revised: July 18, 2019

The Water Resources Advisory Committee (WRAC) is a forum for issues related to water resources management in Washington state.

This membership represens state agencies, local governments, water utilities, tribes, environmental groups, consultants, law firms, and other water stakeholders. Typical discussion topics include rules, policies, legislation, budget development, and litigation. The group was established in 1996.

Meetings

Unless notice is provided otherwise, WRAC meetings are held from 9 a.m. to noon on the second Monday of every month at our headquarters building in Lacey. Anyone who is interested in water resources management in Washington is welcome to attend.

Join the email list

If you would like to receive notices about WRAC meetings, subscribe to the email list.

Bill Tracking

• 2019 Legislative Bill Tracking - session end
• Agency-request legislation - link to agency tracking page

2019 Meetings

September 9

• Agenda
• Statewide conditions/Drought in Washington 2019
• Draft Streamflow Restoration Competitive Grants - Guidance for project applicants  - comments requested through Sept. 8, 2019
• POL-2050 Water Resources Program Policy Regarding Reservations of Water for Future Uses from the John Day-McNary Pools Reach of the Columbia River 08/01/2019

August 12 meeting canceled. Next meeting is September 9.

July 8 - Call-in Only

• Agenda -Call-in Only, please do not come to the Ecology building and follow these instructions to join the meeting: 

• In February 2019, Water Resources proposed changes to Policies 1060 and 1200. We heard from many of you who had concerns with our draft policy changes. We carefully considered the concerns raised and in response, we are proposing a newly revised version of Policy 1060. We are no longer proposing changes to Policy 1200
  • Our proposed revision of POL 1060 is available here.  We will discuss the draft at the July 8 WRAC meeting.
  •  We would like your feedback on the proposed policy. Please send comments to Carrie Sessions by July 26 at 5 PM: (carrie.sessions@ecy.wa.gov, 360-407-6094).
• Protecting orcas from extintion - Ecology web page
  • Orca Overview - Task Force Presentation
  • Orca Summary - Task Force Recomendations
  • Orca Overview - Budgets

June 10

• Agenda
  • Join by phone: 1-855-929-3239  Access Code 802 767 155 #
  • Join the meeting from your computer to view presentations.
• DRAFT Water Resources Program Policy Regarding Reservations of Water for Future Uses from the John Day-McNary Pools Reach of the Columbia River - link removed 08/02/2019
  • John Day McNary Pool Reservations - Presentation by Ben Carr, OCR
  • Ecology's response to CSRIA petition to amend Chapter 173-531A WAC - Dec.13, 2018
  • John Day/McNary Pool reservations - Permit process
  • If you have any questions please contact Ben Carr at 509-457-7112 or Melissa Downes, Policy Lead, 509-454-4259.
• Drought in Washington 2019
  • Water resources drought response grants
  • Emergency rule - WAC 173-167
• Chamokane Creek - settlement agreement
• Yakima River Basin Adjudication - finalized

May 13

• Agenda
• Water Banking and Water Marketing in Select Western States - Evans School of Public Policy and Governance - University of Washington
• Grant Funding Rule – we expect to adopt the rule in early June, it would become effective in early July
• WRIA 1 (Nooksack) preliminary rulemaking documents – Comments due May 10
• Draft Final NEB Guidance – Comments due June 7
• Draft Streamflow Restoration Policy – Comments due June 7

April 8

• Agenda
• Drought in Washington 2019 - Drought declaration
  • Water supply update - Apr. 8, 2019
• Chapter 173-501 WAC -  Instream Resources Protection Program - Nooksack Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA)
  • We’ve developed preliminary draft language for the rule amendment and a rule supporting document for Chapter 173-501 WAC:
    • Preliminary Draft Rule Language – Amendment to Chapter 173-501 WAC
    • Preliminary Draft Rule Supporting Document – Amendment to Chapter 173-501 WAC

March 11 

• Agenda
• Cultivating interstate conversation and collaboration: April 2018 Ogalla Summit - presentation by Amy Kremen, Colorado State University
• Statewide conditions - latest information about water supply in the state
• Policy update - We are proposing draft changes to two policies. The goal of the revisions is to clarify how the program treats permits that have been put to full beneficial use, but not yet certified, and to update the policies to reflect current law. The current version of each policy is available in the links below along with the revised versions for comparison. Please note:
  • We have almost completely rewritten POL 1060; therefore, specific changes are not highlighted.
  • We added specific language to POL 1200, which is indicated in blue text. We did not change the remainder of the policy.
    • POL 1060 Recision and Relinquishment
      • Revised version - draft for review and comment
    • POL 1200 Policy for the Evaluation of Changes or Transfers to Water Rights
      • Revised version - draft for review and comment

  • We would like your feedback on the proposed changes. Please send comments to Carrie Sessions by Apr. 26 at 5 PM: (carrie.sessions@ecy.wa.gov, 360 407 6094).

• Streamflow Restoration Planning - page to track the committees, plans and rule process
  • Streamflow Restoration - program update presentation
• Water Resource Mitigation, Joint Legislative Task Force
• Drought Preparedness bill:
  • HB 1622
  • SB 5675

February 11- Meeting Canceled "Snowmageddon"

January 14

• Agenda
• Streamflow Restoration Planning - new page to track the committees, plans and rule process
• Water Resource Mitigation, Joint Legislative Task Force
• Washington SNOTEL Current Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) % of Normal
• Presentations:
  • Potential Acquavella closeout timelines
  • Streamflow Restoration - Implemetation Update

Archive

• WRAC meeting archive for 2017 and 2018

2019 Meeting dates

• Aug. 12 - meeting canceled
• Sep. 9
• Oct. 14
• Nov. 12 - Tuesday
• Dec. 19

Resource materials

Program highlights

• 100 Years of water law - a multi-media review of the many ways Washington’s water law shapes our lives.

Cases

• Crown West
• Loyal Pig
• Hirst v. Whatcom County
• Foster v. Ecology
• Instream Flows for the Spokane River
• Culverts Case - link to Supreme Court of the United States for Case No. 17-269 Washington, Petitioner v. United States, et al.
• Bassett, et. al. vs. Ecology and Center for Environmental Policy - No. 14-2-02466-2
  • Mandate - Thurston County Cause No. 14-2-02466-2
  • Published opinion - Apr. 2, 2019
  • Order - September 6, 2017 case is transferred to Division II of the Court of Appeals

Program contacts:

Chris Anderson
Water Resources Program webmaster
chris.anderson@ecy.wa.gov
(360) 407-6634 

Carrie Sessions
Water Resources Program legislative liaison
carrie.sessions@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6094

Jim Skalski
Water Resources Program budget manager
jim.skalski@ecy.wa.gov
360-407-6617