Kretz: When It Comes To Hirst Rural and Urban Should Play By The Same Rules

When it comes to water availability across the Evergreen state, one Northeast Washington lawmaker says the metropolitan areas should share the same regulations as rural areas.  As lawmakers in Olympia continue to debate over Hirst, and what should be done, property owners in rural portions of the state are caught in the middle.  Republicans want to roll back the 2016 Supreme Court decision to allow certain domestic wells to be drilled.

However, House Republican deputy leader Joel Kretz, said Seattle-area Democratic lawmakers, backed by tribes and environmentalists, have blocked a Hirst fix.

“I think it’s easy for an urban legislator to say, ‘Well, let’s just keep supporting that kind of policy when it doesn’t affect their people.’”

Kretz said its time Seattle has a “taste of its own medicine”.  He’s introduced legislation that would set new water standards for cities with more than 100-thousand residents.

“If they want to take water out of the rural parts of the state and make it unavailable, then I think we need to look at the impacts of the urban parts of the state.”

Under the proposal, new single-family homes would be limited to 350 gallons of water a day.  Multi-family dwellings could only use 150 gallons a day.  If they want more, it would cost a dollar a gallon.  The One Washington Water Act also requires an environmental impact statement before a building permit is issued that would take into account impacts on instream flows, Pacific salmon and tribal treaty rights.

Click Here to learn more about the One Washington Water Act.

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