Water rights could be affected
COEUR d'ALENE - If proposed in-stream flows on Washington's stretch of the Spokane River are successfully established this year, future water rights in Kootenai County could be affected.
Center for Environmental Law & Policy Executive Director Rachael Paschal Osborn addressed about three-dozen attorneys at a Water Law in North Idaho seminar Tuesday at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.
Osborn summarized a number of the intergovernmental issues involving Idaho's water, and one of the issues on the Spokane River could affect Kootenai County water users in the near future.
"There are many, many issues. The aquifer and the Spokane River are completely interrelated hydraulically, and so there are many issues related to water," Osborn said, adding the aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for a half-million people in the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane region.
"Water rights have been issued in abundance in both Idaho and Washington," she said. "Pumping those water rights affects flows in the Spokane River."
She said Idaho has already established minimum in-stream flows for the Spokane River on the Idaho side of the state line, and now Washington is going to do the same.
The Washington Department of Ecology is expected to begin a rulemaking process in early September to establish in-stream flows along the Spokane River during various times throughout the year.
"In my opinion, they are low-balling the summertime flow that they propose in the reach of the river below Monroe Street Dam - which is just downstream from the Spokane Falls in the city of Spokane - which is important for a variety of purposes," Osborn said.
On Monday, Andy Dunau, executive director of the Spokane River Forum, explained that the Monroe Street summertime flow goal is likely to become controversial because the state is seeking 850 cubic feet per second (cfs) at that location.
Currently, he said, that reach of the river does not always hit 850 cfs flow during the last two weeks of June and August. He said that could affect future water rights in Spokane and possibly Coeur d'Alene.
In an interview last week, Bruce Howard, director of environmental affairs for Avista Corp., said Washington's rulemaking process will establish an official water right for the state in that portion of the river, but that water right will be dated at the time the rulemaking process concludes.
Both Idaho and Washington have "first in time, first in right" water appropriations laws. That means the entity that secures water rights first will have priority in accessing water during low-water years.
Water rights which are secured prior to Washington state's in-stream flow should not be affected if the 850 cfs cannot be attained. However, Howard said water rights issued upstream from Monroe Street after the in-stream flows are established may be curtailed during low-water years - at least in Washington.
Howard said it is not certain that future water rights in Idaho will be affected.
"But, I am sure someone could challenge that in court if that occurs," Howard said, adding that Avista's water rights are not likely to be affected.
Osborn said that the flows are needed to protect red-band trout spawning beds in the Monroe Street reach of the river, which is fed cool water in part by the Rathdrum Prairie Spokane Valley Aquifer.
"If you fly fish in Spokane, you know this is one of the great places to go," she said, "because this is one of the few free-flowing stretches of the river, and there are a lot of fish in there."
Osborn said those issues, combined with efforts to restore salmon runs and steelhead in the Spokane River up to the Monroe Street location, makes it important to seriously consider the flow volumes that are established.
"These interstate implications are substantial because at some point Idaho and Washington are going to have to get together either through a lawsuit or negotiation and decide or enter into a compact on how much water is going to be shared," she said.