Dent: Little Done To Address Water Issues In 2016

Moses Lake Representative Tom Dent said little was done to address water shortage issues during the 2016 legislative session.  He told the Washington Ag Network lawmakers passed a Water banking bill which has to yet to be signed by Governor Jay Inslee.  But outside of that, water issues received little attention.

The Republican said lawmakers are already aware of several must have water projects, but funding remains one of the chief problems.

“Such as the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, we’ve done the work there, but we need to figure out how to fund it, and we do need to increase our water storage capabilities there.  And then over there east of Moses Lake in the Odessa aquifer the east part of my district is a serious issue with a declining aquifer and we’re going to have to solve this problem.”

Dent added it’s important the ag community reaches out to the more metro areas and express the importance of water infrastructure improvements.

“I think the issue is some of the folks who live on the west side of the state don’t see water in the same in the same vein that we do, you know the critical aspect of water it’s hard for them to understand the huge costs to put in water infrastructure  projects; so it’s a struggle.”

Dent expressed optimism that water would receive more attention during the 2017 legislative session.'

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