Council hopeful suggests tapping Jewett Creek for water source

Darlene Johnson, a candidate for the White Salmon City Council, believes she has found a possible solution to the city's lack of water.

Johnson, who is campaigning against incumbent City Council member Mark Peppel, said she wants the city to tap into Jewett Springs as a source for more water.

Johnson refereed to a 1968 "Certificate of Surface Water Right" that was signed by the Washington Department of Water Resources. The document certifies that White Salmon is allowed to use as much as 688 acre-feet of water per year from Jewett Springs, a tributary of Jewett Creek.

Johnson said she has been in contact with Daniel Haller of the Washington Department of Ecology regarding the idea.

Johnson contends the city could procure additional water rights for the city by having the water rights from this water rights certificate recognized.

However, city attorney Ken Woodrich said he has looked into the legal ramifications of the certificate, and believes there would be no benefit to the city to tap Jewett Springs.

"We brought up the possible use of Jewett Creek with Haller," Woodrich said. "He explained that we could take water from either source (Jewett Springs or Buck Creek), but the total would remain the same. We could use water from Jewett Springs, but it's not cumulative. It's either/or."

"There is no benefit from tapping into Jewett Creek," added White Salmon Mayor David Poucher.

Woodrich said city officials met with Department of Ecology representatives on Thursday.

"The Thursday meeting was an opportunity to find out if it was helpful or a non-starter," said Woodrich. "It's a red herring, unfortunately. It was a good idea to follow up on, and we did that right away. But it's not cumulative. It's a common mistake non-experts make. It's not another source at all. It's the same 688 acre-feet."

Johnson said she did not agree with that interpretation.

"I don't see how they could deduct water rights from water rights," she said. "The DOE did not limit the source from Jewett Creek. It's a right the city has on file. All the city has to do is amend its comprehensive water system plan. And that has the potential to double our water supply with no expense."

After hearing Woodrich's analysis, Johnson said she again contacted Haller regarding the surface water right to Jewett Springs.

"It appears they are claiming it only adds to the city's allowable cubic feet per second and not the city's acre-feet per year," Johnson explained. "I disagree with their position. I have discussed this issue further with Mike Wellman [White Salmon's director of the Public Works Department] and he agrees, but acknowledges it may be challenging to get this done. He didn't seem to think there was any reason that we couldn't send in an amended water system plan to see if we could force the Department of Ecology to recognize the acre-feet as well as the cubic feet per second."

Johnson said she was disappointed White Salmon's leaders were not willing to move forcefully on getting water from Jewett Springs.

"I'm flabbergasted they are not willing to move forward on this," Johnson said. "I brought the idea to the mayor and the city operations committee -- their response was just to form another committee. It's frustrating. We don't need to form another committee."

At the Sept. 2 meeting of the White Salmon City Council, Johnson pressed the issue with council members.

Johnson pointed out that there are 30-40 wells being dug in the city by property owners who cannot connect to the city's water system due to an ongoing moratorium on water hookups.

"We're losing huge revenue streams. I want to see you guys act," Johnson said.

Johnson also predicted that if and when the water hookup moratorium is lifted, commercial applications would be given priority over residential water connections.

"The governor is putting a lot of pressure on the mayor to make sure Insitu stays in the state," Johnson said.