Working group will study stock water exemption

Washington Ag Today May 15, 2009 A key issue for the cattle industry in the recent legislative session was the stock water exemption in state water law. Several bills were introduced ranging from defining the exemption and maintaining the unlimited withdrawal to applying a retroactive five-thousand gallon limit on all withdrawals for stock watering.

Jack Field, Executive Vice President of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association, says none of the bills passed and instead formation of a work group on stock watering was included in a budget proviso.

Field: “It is my understanding that the Department of Ecology‘s goal is that the end product of this work group be some type of legislative proposal or request. The hope is that we can pull everybody together. Get those legislators that are interested in moving and advancing the issue around the table with us and give the livestock industry the opportunity to explain and express our reliance and the importance of maintaining the stock watering exemption as much as we possibly can.”

Field says one of the biggest challenge will be defining “stock water purposes.”

The working group is to report its recommendations to the governor and appropriate legislative committees by December 1st of this year. Among the make up of the working group there are to be four members representing agriculture.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.