wbhearing

On April 2 just minutes after one of three Franklin County Water Board members first thumbed through technical information provided by family farmers concerned about risks to their wells - the Board approved water for an industrial feedlot. The decision to approve mining water from aquifers to support industrial agriculture in bone-dry wheat country now moves to the state's Department of Ecology. This decision and the plight of Five Corners Family Farmers have focused attention on state water policies and the crisis facing the state’s groundwater.

“Over lives are at stake,” said Randy Jones (pictured right), one of many farming families that packed the hearing room on Thursday in Pasco. “The County Water Board didn’t even look at the information we provided. They just ‘rubber stamped’ water for the industrial feedlot. In this part of Washington industrial agriculture is king, and the king gets the water."

Water for the proposed 30,000-head cattle feedlot would be pumped from aquifers. To claim rights to groundwater, Easterday Inc proposes to use the state’s provision allowing water for domestic use. In comments submitted to the County Water Board on Thursday, CELP pointed out that the 1945 law and its legislative history set an upper limit on water use at 5,000 gallons per day for all domestic uses, including watering livestock. Groundwater is not available for factory feedlots and industrial dairies using the 1945 domestic well provision.

Easterday has also purchased a water right and is seeking state approval to transfer the water right to the proposed cattle feedlot. During Thursday’s hearing Five Corners Family Farms and CELP pointed out that Easterday had failed to provide information needed for the Board to approve the proposed water right transfer. Testimony repeatedly returned to the overarching concern about water scarcity, disturbing declines in aquifer water levels, and the risks that industrial feedlots would pose for small farmers and the water they rely upon.

“If there is a water emergency out here, it’s all over because there is no other water,” noted Scott Collin of Five Corners Family Farmers (pictured left). “Washington State says it has a complaint-based response. If the State opens the door to these industrial feedlots, we’ll be forced to ‘close the barn door after the horses are out of the barn.’ Once we lose our wells the damage is done.”

The proposed industrial feedlot is seen as the first of many “factory farms” to locate in eastern Washington on land that has sustained generations of family farmers growing wheat. Rain is scarce on these rolling hills. The farming families rely on wells for domestic water use. These wells draw water from basalt aquifers. These aquifers do not recharge.

Mining aquifers is unlawful in Washington State. Economic and political pressures have led the state's water agency to approve water mining for decades. As aquifer levels drop, political tensions over water rise. Studies, including findings released in January by the Columbia Ground Water Management Area, have concluded that water levels in these aquifers are dropping fast. With the state’s water agency now slated to decide the plight of the Five Corners Family Farmers, the Washington Department of Ecology will reveal whether it is prepared to abandon failing water policies and avoid a deepening water crisis.

“Washington State is not unique in the world in mismanaging its water resources,” testified Dr. John Osborn of CELP to the County Water Board and Deparment of Ecology staff. “Locally and globally we are at the end of the water frontier. In caring for people and for the waters that sustain them, the state needs to make the correct diagnosis, and stop pursuing policies and decisions that do harm."

Additional Background:

Easterday Ranches of Pasco, Washington, proposes to build and operate a 30,000-head cattle feedlot near Eltopia. Easterday plans to drill one or more wells, and use groundwater from the Grande Ronde Aquifer to supply the feedlot. But the company does not have a water use permit. Instead, Easterday claims Washington’s permit-exempt domestic well exemption is a legitimate basis to withdraw water for industrial use.

Groundwater resources in eastern Franklin County are in a precarious state. In the Odessa Subarea to the north and west, groundwater levels are declining at the rate of several feet per year. In Whitman County to the east, groundwater levels are also declining at the rate of 1.5 feet per year. In the Eltopia area, there is evidence that groundwater levels decline when heavily pumped. Pumping water for the proposed industrial feedlot carries a significant risk that neighboring domestic wells will be substantially impacted.

Washington’s domestic well exemption includes an allowance for stockwatering. The exemption allows use of up to 5,000 gallons per day for rural homes. Part of that quantity may also be used to supply water for family livestock.

In 2005, at the request of Senator Bob Morton (R-Orient) and Janea Holmquist (R-Moses Lake), Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a controversial opinion that the stockwatering exemption allows unlimited use of exempt wells to water livestock in unlimited quantities. In other words, exempt wells may be used for industrial dairies, feedlots, and CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations), regardless of how much water is used, and regardless of impacts on other water users or the environment.

On November 12, 2008, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a letter to Easterday Ranches interpreting the 2005 AG Opinion. On December 4, 2008 Ecology Director Jay Manning issued a memorandum confirming agency position on the law. Ecology's letters indicate that Easterday may use unlimited quantities of water for livestock to drink, but use of water for dust control, barn and equipment washing, and other purposes associated with feedlots requires a water permit.