Watershed Improvement Districts –
A good way to help address some county water
issues, or just empowering another special interest group to gum up the works?
On Tuesday the County Council is being asked
to consider a resolution from the newly formed Ag District Coalition to support
their efforts to create up to five additional Watershed Improvement Districts
(WIDS), perhaps as early as this fall. You can read the resolution here.
The stated purpose of these proposed Watershed Improvement Districts is to “provide a voice with legal standing to agricultural interests in the county on
water issues for the purpose of preserving viable agriculture in Whatcom County.”
While preserving farmland seems to be
supported by nearly everyone, some have questioned the underlying motives of
those that are proposing these WIDs. Are they really trying to just provide
some leadership to break the logjam on a variety of water issues, or are they
just trying to create new jurisdictions with legal authority to push for what
is most advantageous for current agriculture stakeholders? Will this help move
us all toward solutions, or just slow things down even further?
I attended a meeting of the Ag District Coalition
in Lynden in January where they talked about this idea, and I was impressed
with the variety of groups they invited, their explanation of the bind Ag is in
in regards to legal water rights, and the initiative they are showing to try to
find some cooperative solutions.
All that being said, I think it is always
important for council members to try to consider possible unintended
consequences of our actions, especially when we are being asked to support an
idea with potential broad policy implications. The phrase in the resolution
that gave me pause was “provide a voice with LEGAL standing.” So, if these WIDS are formed what actual legal
standing would they have, and what powers would be created that don’t currently
exist? To understand that you have to understand the underlying state law that
allows the creation of these WIDS, which will actually be Irrigation Districts
created under RCW 87.
I by no means claim to understand completely
RCW 87, but reading through it did make clear that such irrigation districts
potentially have way more power than has been explained in conjunction with the
formation of these WIDS. For example these potential WIDS (irrigation
districts) appear to have the power to:
• Levy
taxes and fees, and associated bonding authority
• Use
eminent domain to take private property for their purposes
•
Operate water storage and transmission systems for irrigation, domestic
use, and fire flows.
•
Operate sewer and drainage systems
•
Operate electrical generating and transmission systems
•
Provide street lighting
•
Watershed management planning
•
Implement water conservation efforts, and make available rights to
conserved water
These powers raise some policy questions. For
instance:
-
Under a WID scenario the Ag Caucus to the WRIA 1 Planning Unit could be
converted from a non-governmental caucus to a governmental caucus which could
give them a veto power over new proposed in-streams flows that come before the
Planning Unit for a vote.
- If
these WIDs have the ability to operate water, sewer and electrical transmission
systems in their boundaries how do these powers conflict with other entities
that already provide these services, or potentially encourage growth in rural
areas instead of preserving Ag land?
At this point none of policy questions I can
dream up seem to rise to the level that would make me question the benefits to
be had by empowering more local people to work on these water issues. We
already have two WIDs, the Bertrand
Watershed WID and the North
Lynden WID. Both of these WIDs have developed watershed reports with action
items that show they are actively looking for a variety of solutions with a
variety of partners. All that seems appropriate.
At this point I see no real reason to do
anything but support this resolution. If I am missing something please let me
know. The reality is, if I am reading the state law that allows for these WIDs (Irrigation Districts) correctly, the County Council really has no power to stop
the creation of these WIDs. While they have to come through the County Council
for the elections to create the WIDS, we cannot withhold those elections if
they provide the required petitions. If the property owners (not residents) in
these proposed districts then approve of the creation of the districts, and
elect a board of directors, the districts are created – with or without County
Council or anyone else’s approval. That’s called direct democracy, as created
by the state legislature.
What do you think?
