Ecology to hold water adjudication meeting in Birch Bay

The Washington Department of Ecology (DOE), in partnership with the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce, will hold an informational meeting regarding the adjudication of the Nooksack River that officially began on May 1.

The meeting is scheduled from 1:30 to 2:45 p.m. on Thursday, August 1 at North Bay Community Church, 4895 Birch Bay-Lynden Road. The meeting is open to the public, but requires registration at bit.ly/4frlEbw.

Water rights adjudication is the legal process of a court determining who has the most senior right to a water source. The adjudication of the Nooksack has been in the works for years, with DOE expecting water rights claims from 30,000 unique water users including municipal governments, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe, and any individual landowner who uses surface or groundwater outside of municipal services.

The Nooksack watershed supplies irrigation to 100,000 acres of farmland, drinking water for 230,000 residents and growing, and is home to crucial salmon spawning grounds that are protected under federal treaty law. DOE, along with the Washington state legislature, agreed that the watershed should be the next to undergo adjudication.

Those who use water through a municipal utility such as Blaine or Birch Bay Water and Sewer District will not need to make a claim, but are still invited to attend the meeting.

Water users who receive a legal summons from DOE will have one year to submit a claim form with supporting evidence in order to keep their water right.

For more information on the adjudication process, visit ecology.wa.gov/nooksack-adjudication, call 360/225-4406, or email WRadjudications@ecy.wa.gov.