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Article: TURNING OFF THE TAP REDEFINING THE `PUBLIC INTEREST' IN GRANTING WATER RIGHTS REQUESTS.(P-I Focus)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- March 3, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the Dialog Corporation by Gale Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In early 1994 Mary Riveland, the director of the Washington Department of Ecology, was faced with a growing crisis.
Unchecked population growth was creating a huge demand for more water, and pending applications for new water rights had risen into the thousands. At the same time, growing concern for the health of the state's salmon fisheries indicated that precious little water was left for out-of-stream uses.
The agency was under attack from the Legislature as well as interest groups from the agricultural, industrial and municipal sectors. Environmental and fish advocates, along with regional Indian tribes, weren't any happier.
Riveland ...