Washington HB 1691: Extending the water supply milestone for the Yakima river basin integrated plan to 2035.

Bill Text

AN ACT Relating to extending the water supply milestone for the 1
Yakima river basin integrated plan to 2035; amending RCW 90.38.010, 2
90.38.110, and 90.38.130; providing an effective date; providing an 3
expiration date; and declaring an emergency.4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:5
Sec. 1. RCW 90.38.010 and 2013 2nd sp.s. c 11 s 2 are each 6
amended to read as follows:7
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter 8
unless the context clearly requires otherwise.9
(1) "Department" means the department of ecology.10
(2) "Integrated plan" means the Yakima river basin integrated 11
water resource management plan developed through a consensus-based 12
approach by a diverse work group of representatives of the Yakama 13
Nation, federal, state, county, and city governments, environmental 14
organizations, and irrigation districts, which is to be implemented 15
consistent with congressional Yakima river basin water enhancement 16
project enactments and for which the final programmatic environmental 17
impact statement was made available for review through public notice 18
published in the federal register (77 FR 12076 (2012)).19
(3) "Net water savings" means the amount of water that through 20
hydrological analysis is determined to be conserved and usable for 21
H-0843.1
HOUSE BILL 1691
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Dent, Dye, Dufault, Manjarrez, and Mendoza
Read first time 01/29/25. Referred to Committee on Agriculture &
Natural Resources.
p. 1 HB 1691

other purposes without impairing existing water rights, reducing the 1
ability to deliver water, or reducing the supply of water that 2
otherwise would have been available to other water users.3
(4) "Trust water right" means that portion of an existing water 4
right, constituting net water savings, that is no longer required to 5
be diverted for beneficial use due to the installation of a water 6
conservation project that improves an existing system. The term 7
"trust water right" also applies to any other water right acquired by 8
the department under this chapter for management in the Yakima river 9
basin trust water rights program.10
(5) "Water conservation project" means any project funded to 11
further the purposes of this chapter and that achieves physical or 12
operational improvements of efficiency in existing systems for 13
diversion, conveyance, or application of water under existing water 14
rights.15
(6) "Water supply facility permit and funding milestone" means a 16
date prior to June 30, ((2025)) 2035, when required permits have been 17
approved, and funding has been secured to begin construction on one 18
or more water supply facilities designed to provide at least ((two 19
hundred fourteen thousand)) 214,000 acre feet of water to be used for 20
instream and out-of-stream uses.21
(7) "Yakima river basin water enhancement project" means a series 22
of congressional enactments, originally initiated by the United 23
States congress in 1979 under P.L. 96-162, with subsequent federal 24
implementing legislation being passed in 1984 under section 109 of 25
P.L. 98-381 to promote fish passage improvements, and in 1994 under 26
P.L. 103-434, as amended by P.L. 105-62 in 1997 and P.L. 106-372 in 27
2000, to promote water conservation, water supply, habitat, and 28
stream enhancement improvements in the Yakima river basin.29
Sec. 2. RCW 90.38.110 and 2013 2nd sp.s. c 11 s 10 are each 30
amended to read as follows:31
(1) Prior to the appropriation of funding for the construction of 32
a water supply project proposed in the integrated plan with a cost of 33
greater than ((one hundred million dollars)) $100,000,000, the state 34
of Washington water research center shall review, evaluate, and 35
prepare comments on the cost-benefit analysis prepared for the 36
project by the department and the United States bureau of 37
reclamation.38
p. 2 HB 1691

(2) To the greatest extent possible, the center must use 1
information from existing studies, supplemented by primary research, 2
to measure and evaluate each project's benefits and costs.3
(3) The center must measure and report the economic benefits of 4
each project subject to subsection (1) of this section, so that it is 5
clear the extent to which an individual project is expected to result 6
in increases in fish populations, increases in the reliability of 7
irrigation water during severe drought years, and improvements in 8
municipal and domestic water supply.9
(4) The center may enter into agreements with other state 10
universities and with private consultants as needed to accomplish the 11
scope of work.12
(5) The center may consult, as necessary, with the department of 13
ecology and the Yakima river basin water enhancement project work 14
group.15
(6) No more than ((twelve)) 12 percent of any appropriations 16
provided for the implementation of this section may be retained for 17
administrative overhead expenses.18