Ecology launches online water forum for public input
Washington Ag Today August 30, 2010 The Washington Department of Ecology is today launching an online forum, Water Smart Washington, to help engage the public in a discussion of water issues. Maia Bellon, deputy manager of Ecology’s Water Resources Program explained the forum in a video on YouTube. Bellon: :With this online forum we are asking you, the people of Washington, for ideas on how best to allocate and conserve our water resources, to pay for the work of issuing water rights, to protect our streams and aquifers and to develop new water supplies to meet the needs of the future.” Ecology is considering significant changes in how the Water Resources Program is operated and funded. Ecology says efforts to fulfill the programs mission have been handicapped in recent years by inconsistent funding resulting from dependence on the State General Fund and the need to update 19th century-based water laws which Ecology says are inadequate to meet 21st Century challenges. Ecology is considering asking the Legislature to require users of water resource services to fund more of those services and to have lawmakers update antiquated and unclear water law. The Online Forum will have a question of the week. Ecology says an example would be, should those who want water right applications processed for agriculture or commercial use pay more of the cost of processing? The department says the State General Fund pays 98 percent of those costs currently. Ecology says contributions to the Forum will help shape the policy initiatives it is considering as well as proposed legislation. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
