08/07/08 Unpermitted Reservoirs

Unpermitted Reservoirs. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The Department of Ecology in Washington State is asking for some help to make sure residents in some areas of the state remain safe. At issue are a number of unpermitted reservoirs. Dan Partridge with the Department of Ecology explains. PARTRIDGE: Since March, Ecology has been conducting a survey, developing an inventory of unpermitted dams across the state. We've been doing this by scanning aerial photos and trying to identify those dams at least 2 acres or more in size that would potentially bring them under Ecology's supervision. These dams that are above the 2 acre size can pose significant problems. PARTRIDGE: They were built without an Ecology inspection and so we can't verify their safety and we are focusing on those dams that have at least one residence down stream where failure of the dam could pose a risk to downstream property owners. Those owners need to contact Ecology or face a stiff fine. PARTRIDGE: We're asking owners of these dams that don't have permits to step forward by September 1 and cooperate with Ecology and we'll come out and inspect the dams and they can avoid fines by doing that of up to $5000 a day. These reservoirs may hold at least 10 acre-feet (3.26 million gallons) of water and are often used in farming for frost control and to store irrigation water. PARTRIDGE: The flood issue is our primary concern at this point  it's a matter of public safety because some of these unpermitted dams have failed in the past in Washington State. Fortunately no lives have been lost from that but there has been property damage and so we are working to make sure that doesn't happen again in the future. The safety review has identified "significant" or "high hazard" dams in 31 of Washington State's 39 counties. Yakima County leads the top five with 48 potentially hazardous unpermitted dams. Owners should contact the Department of Ecology in Washington before September 1st to avoid any fines. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.