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Ecology home | Water Resources Advisory Committee | WRAC meetings

 Last revised: October 12, 2021

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

This membership represents 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

ALERT: All Ecology buildings are closed to the public. Staff are available by telephone and email, but will not be available for walk-in service at headquarters, regional, and field offices until further notice. For more information please visit our COVID-19 response page. See also the Washington state coronavirus.wa.gov page.

WRAC meetings are now held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the second Monday of every month, online using Webex. 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.

2021 Meetings

October 11 - Meeting canceled

• Water rights and dam safety policies, procedures & guidance - POL-1050 is in the Admisitration of water rights (#1000-1120)

September 13

• Agenda - includes Webex login information
• Draft policy and interpretive statement on the Administration of the Trust Water Rights Program (TWRP) - Presentation
  
  • Draft Policy on Administration of the Statewide Trust Water Rights Program
  • Draft Request to Establish or Modify a Water Bank- Draft of the form
  • Please submit written comments through this link by Sunday, September 19 at 11:59pm
• Streamflow Restoration Competitive Grants
  • Up to $40 million available for streamflow restoration projects - Blog
  • Streamflow Restoration section update - presentation
• Water Banks in WA - includes link to water bank tracking
  • Water banking grants
  • Water Banking Grant Pilot - presentation
• Legal brief - recent decisions, settlements, cases to watch/pending decisions
• Dungeness Water Exchange - Mitigation Pricing Update - Washington Water Trust
• Chamokane Creek
  • United States of America, Spokane Tribe of Indians, v. Barbara J. Anderson, et al. 

August 9 - 9am to noon

• Agenda - includes Webex login information
• Water Rights Transfers, Water Banking, and Private Investment in Public Water Resources
  • Briefing Paper for WRAC Discussion  - please read before the Aug. 9 meeting and come prepared to discuss your ideas
  • Presentation
• Draft policy and interpretive statement on the Administration of the Trust Water Rights Program (TWRP)
• • Draft Policy on Administration of the Statewide Trust Water Rights Program
  • Draft Request to Establish or Modify a Water Bank- Draft of the form
  • Please submit written comments through this link by Sunday, September 19 at 11:59pm
• Drought 2021
  • Emergency Drought Funding Rule - 173-167 WAC
  • Read the news release about the Emergency Drought Funding Rule
  • Presentation

July 12

• Agenda
• Streamflow restoration planning - update
• Water Banking Trust Water Rights Presentation - Dave Christensen, Robin McPherson, Carrie Sessions
• Water Supply Update - Jeff Marti
  • Provide your observations: 
    • Condition Monitoring Observations | Drought Impacts Toolkit (unl.edu)
    • Environmental fish/shellfish die-off report form - PublicInput.com 

June 14

• Agenda 
  • WebEx Tips
• Presentation - Evaluating the impacts of water rights transfers in Washington State - Evans School of Public Policy and Governance
• Report - Evaluating the impacts of out-of-basin water rights transfers in Washington state
• Water Supply Update - Jeff Marti
• Okanogan County v. Department of Ecology, Okanogan County Superior Court No. 21-2-00039-24
• Columbia Crest Estates Homeowners Association v. Department of Ecology, Thurston County Superior Court No. 20-2-00956-34
• Chamokane Creek United States of America, Spokane Tribe of Indians, v. Barbara J. Anderson, et al.
• Streamflow Restoration Planning
  
  • News release - State adopts new watershed plans for Puyallup River and Chambers-Clover basin
• News release - Ecology issues drought advisory for most of the state 
• Blog - Eye On (Water) Supply - Washington State Department of Ecology
• Webpage - Drought response - Washington State Department of Ecology

May 10 

• Agenda 
  • WebEx Tips
• Legislative Update - presentation

• Provide comments on the WRIA 10 and WRIA 12 plan environmental review
• Provide comments on the draft POL-1050, see information in the April 12 meeting below.

• Ecology adopts new watershed plan for Duwamish-Green River Basin - News release

April 12

• Agenda - includes login information for WebEx
  • WebEx Tips

• Draft policy revision for review and comment - We value your feedback on the proposed changes.Please send any written comments to Carrie Sessions, by May 11, 2021 at 11:59pm.

  • POL-1050 - Draft for comments (MS Word - use track changes and save before sending back to us)
    • POL-1050 - Draft for comments (PDF)
  • POL-1050 - Original policy for reference

  Carrie Sessions
  Policy and Legislative Analyst, Water Resources Program
  WA State Department of Ecology
  (360) 742-6582 (work cell)
  carrie.sessions@ecy.wa.gov

• March 31 New Skagit water options

• Find a water right using the Water Rights Search

March 8

• Agenda - includes login information for WebEx
  • WebEx Tips
• Streamflow Restoration
  • SEPA comment period open for WRIA 9 streamflow plan
  • Streamflow restoration planning
• Environmental justice - Link to Ecologys page
  • Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map
  • EPA's Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

February 8

• Agenda - includes login information for WebEx
  • WebEx Tips
• Streamflow Restoration
  • News release - Jan. 28 Ecology adopts 3 streamflow restoration plans
  • Streamflow Restoration Planning - links to adopted plan addendums for Chehalis, Little Spokane and Okanogan 
• In your watershed - Links to water availability focus sheets, added Chehalis, Little Spokane and Okanogan

January 11 - Meeting canceled. Next meeting is Feb. 8

• Ecology begins environmental review of proposal to rebuild Eightmile Lake Dam - News release 12/18/2020

Archive

• WRAC meeting archive for 2020 Note: Content on the archive page is not being maintained and may contain broken links or out of date information. If you see something you need please check with us to see if we have any updated material before using it. 

Resource materials

Bill Tracking

• 2021 Legislative Bill Tracking - 04/29/2021 Sine Die, last spreadsheet with budget provisos
• Ecology's Budget - tracking for all agency programs

Courts

• State of Washington Environmental Hearings Office Board Decisions
• Digest of water resources decisions
• Washington courts

Program highlights

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

Case Law

• Case law

Program contacts:

Mary Verner - Water Resources Program Manager
mary.verner@ecy.wa.gov 
(360) 280-2826

Chris Anderson - Water Resources Program webmaster
dave.christnsen@ecy.wa.gov 
(360) 890-5471

Dave Christensen - Water Resources Program legislative liaison
carrie.sessions@ecy.wa.gov
360-489-4227