[Vision2020] Protect Grand Ronde Aquifer

[Tom Hansen]

>From the Letters section of today's (January 17, 2008) Spokesman Review with
thanks to Buell Hollister of Spokane -

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Washington State HB 1338 - 2003-04
Providing additional certainty for municipal water rights.
http://tinyurl.com/2fbs3o

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Protect Grand Ronde aquifer

The cities of Moscow and Pullman and the University of Idaho as well as WSU
rely on the Grande Ronde aquifer as a sole source of water. The water level
in the aquifer has declined up to 3 feet for several decades, putting the
long-term sustainability of the water supply in question.

Under Washington's new municipal water law (HB 1338), WSU is designated a
municipality, allowing the university to combine water permits previously
issued by the state to pump three times the water the university currently
uses. Ignoring the declining water level of the Grande Ronde aquifer WSU
intends to pump up to 250 million gallons of water a season to irrigate an
18-hole golf course. Strange action for a land grant agricultural university
that advises farmers on prudent use of water.

Several local private citizens, conservation groups and Indian tribes have
brought suit against the state of Washington testing the constitutionality
of HB 1338 for allowing over-appropriation of water in violation of the
public interest in affected communities. If the suit, beginning Jan. 22 in
Pullman, is successful, it will prevent future over-appropriation of water,
benefiting sustainable community growth and economic development.

Buell Hollister
Spokane

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown