originally published April 11, 2017—<\/p>\n
\u201cWater, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u2015 Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner<\/em><\/p>\n Washington State can feel like this sometimes. Though it seems abundant, water isn\u2019t necessarily always available for use \u2015 even for those who own the property under which the water rests.<\/p>\n Imagine you\u2019ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on property for your family home, only to learn that you can\u2019t build because the county won\u2019t issue you a permit allowing you to build a well.<\/p>\n Many landowners \u2015 as many as 1,000 in Whatcom County right now<\/a> \u2015 are stuck in this very position, unable to construct their dream homes because they can\u2019t use the water under their own property.<\/p>\n Other landowners have been unable to sell their property<\/a> \u2015 which they\u2019ve been relying on for retirement \u2015 for the same reasons.<\/p>\n Washington law specifies that the state\u2019s waters belong to the public and thus cannot be owned by any specific person or group. Instead, the state \u2015 via the Department of Ecology<\/a>, which manages Washington\u2019s water supply \u2015 parcels out access to water in the form of water rights.<\/p>\n Complicating matters is an October Washington State Supreme Court ruling<\/a>, widely known as the Hirst decision, that Whatcom County had been running afoul of the state’s Growth Management Act by allowing homeowners to dig unregulated water wells on their properties. The ruling has left many homeowners unable to build homes for their families because they can’t get approval to dig wells on their land.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Hirst decision is causing harm to small business builders, families and rural towns and counties,\u201d said Ted Clifton, president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, in a press release<\/a>. \u201cWithout water, there are no homes that can be built in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n At issue is whether there\u2019s enough water available. The assertion by environmental advocates is that when wells remove groundwater for personal use, nearby streams and rivers can be negatively affected. According to Ecology<\/a>, the recent court decision requires counties to decide for themselves whether there is enough water to approve building permits that would rely on wells. Whatcom County has implemented an interim ordinance<\/a> that requires the county\u2019s Health Department to do just that.<\/p>\n