This regulation is promulgated by the department of ecology under authority and procedures provided in chapters 34.04, 43.21A. 90.03 and 90.44 RCW.

The Odessa groundwater subarea was established and the boundaries set forth in chapter 173-128A WAC.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall be used:

(1) "Water table" shall mean the surface formed by mapping the altitude at which water stands in wells.

(2) "Priority" shall mean the date of receipt by the department of ecology or its predecessor of an acceptable application to appropriate public groundwater.

(3) "Department" shall mean the department of ecology.

(4) "Bore hole information" shall include data required to determine the extent and nature of subsurface geologic and hydrologic properties. Examples of bore hole information includes data contained on a completed department water well report form, all or a portion of a suite of geophysical logs such as resistivity, flow, caliper, and television video scanning.

The purpose of this regulation is to provide a procedure for managing groundwater within the Odessa groundwater subarea to insure the maintenance of a safe sustaining yield from the groundwater body within a reasonable and feasible pumping lift.

The following shall not be subject to this management regulation:

(1) Wells from which the withdrawal is less than 5,000 gallons per day;

(2) Wells drilled under prior authorization which were defined as "Zone C" wells in WAC 173-130-030(3), now repealed.

The rate of decline in the water level will be limited to a total amount of thirty feet in three consecutive years. In the case of a new well, the base time shall commence in the spring following the first season of irrigation use.

These regulations will be used to prevent the spring static water table, as measured prior to commencement of pumping for irrigation, from lowering more than three hundred feet below the altitude of the static water level as it existed in the spring of 1967.

(1) Upon complaint from a water right holder that the water level in the associated well or wells is being drawn down at a rate in excess of thirty feet in three years as set forth in WAC 173-130A-060 as a primary result of pumping by subsequent appropriators, the department shall evaluate the complaint and take appropriate regulatory action, to the extent practicable, to protect the rights of the prior appropriator.

(2) Whenever the department has reason to believe that the provision of WAC 173-130A-070 is going to be violated, regulatory action to limit withdrawals in the affected area will be initiated according to the procedure outlined in WAC 173-130A-090. Such regulation shall conform to the priority of the pertinent, valid rights and shall prevail on an annual basis until the condition no longer exists, unless the aggregate withdrawal is decreased by mutual agreement of the affected water right holders pursuant to RCW 90.44.180.

(3) The department shall take regulatory action, to the extent necessary, to assure compliance with water right conditions.

(1) Notice of regulation shall be provided to each water right holder within the area identified pursuant to WAC 173-130A-080(2) by certified mail on or before May 1 of each year when regulation of withdrawals is contemplated for the next calendar year. Said notice shall also provide for a public meeting within thirty days to be held in the affected area to discuss proposed regulatory action.

(2) Within sixty days following this public meeting, departmental orders will be sent to those water right holders to be regulated.

All applications for permits to appropriate groundwater from within the Odessa groundwater subarea shall be analyzed in order of priority to determine the calculated effect that the requested rate and volume of withdrawal will have on existing groundwater declines. No permit will be issued for withdrawals which calculations show will cause the conditions of WAC 173-130A-060 or 173-130A-070 to be exceeded at any location within the subarea.

No well may be drilled closer than one-quarter mile to the centerline of the East Low Canal.

Irrigation of Columbia Basin project lands lying westerly of the East Low Canal and canal leakage have caused development of a groundwater mound lying generally under the canal. The retention of existing water levels under the canal is necessary to maintain the present water table gradient toward the Potholes Reservoir to allow the recapture and utilization of artificially stored groundwater (see order of the department of ecology, under Docket No. 74-772, dated the 8th day of January, 1975). All applications for permit within the following described area will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis consistent with this chapter. Additionally, the potential effects of the proposed appropriation on existing rights including protection of the groundwater mound will be determined. All new permits will be conditioned to assure retention of the existing water levels under the East Low Canal.

The irrigation season for withdrawal of groundwater in the Odessa groundwater subarea shall be from February 1 to November 30, each year. However, the department recognizes that conditions will vary from year to year, making application of water to the land necessary during December and/or January in some years. Permission to withdraw groundwater during December and January may be granted by the department upon showing of a need by individual permit or certificate holders and if not inconsistent with the regulatory program of this chapter.

An airline and pressure gauge shall be installed and maintained in operating condition on all new or reworked wells and equipped with a standard tire valve, placed in an accessible location. The airline shall extend from land surface to the top of the pump bowls. The total length of the airline and any changes in length shall be reported to the department.

The duty of water issued in permits for agricultural irrigation shall be not more than 2.5 acre feet per acre per calendar year.

All new permits issued will require beginning of construction of the authorized well(s) within two years after permit issuance. Beginning of construction means that the well drilling has been started and is being actively pursued toward completion. No extensions of time will be granted to this schedule. Violation of this requirement will result in cancellation of the related permits.

In order to protect existing shallow domestic and stock water wells, and springs, casing and sealing requirements will be determined on a case-by-case basis and included as a provision on all new permits issued. New permits will also be conditioned to prohibit cascading water in wells in accordance with chapter 173-160 WAC (Minimum standards for construction and maintenance of water wells). Sealing of required casing shall consist of filling the annular space between casing and well bore with cement grout placed by pumping from the bottom of the casing to land surface. Alternative methods to provide the same protection afforded by casing and sealing may be submitted to the department for review and shall only be used if approved in writing by the department prior to well completion.

Any well which is reworked shall be constructed to comply with the casing and sealing provisions of WAC 173-130A-170. Reworking shall include, but not be limited to, reaming to enlarge well diameter or deepening.

It shall be the responsibility of the owner of all new or reworked wells drilled in the Odessa groundwater subarea to provide the department of ecology with such logs as the department may reasonably require.

(1) Water right certificate holders who wish to expand their authorized irrigated acreage while not increasing actual historic withdrawal rates in gallons per minute or acre feet per year, within the maximum limits of their water right, may submit a request in writing to the department at least four months prior to initiation of irrigation. Such request shall include documentation substantiating actual quantities applied to a beneficial use within authorized acreage for a minimum of the three previous consecutive irrigation seasons. This documentation shall consist of accurate flow meter readings, electrical consumption which has been converted to actual acre footage withdrawn, or any other data acceptable to the department.

(2) The acreage expansion, if authorized, will allow the certificate holder to apply the average of the quantity of water beneficially used during the past three consecutive years to more land.

(3) Where the acreage expansion program is continuous from year to year, the initial documentation of beneficial use of water shall apply to each subsequent year.

(4) New wells will not be permitted to be drilled as part of this program. Every well authorized for use under this program must be equipped with an accurately operating flow meter before acreage expansion can be implemented.

(5) By December 31 of each year, the water user shall submit in writing to the department a statement of the total water used, in acre feet, under the acreage expansion program for the completed irrigation season.

(6) The acreage expansion program will be administered as a temporary change through an annual letter of authorization. No permanent amendment or change in any water right certificate shall be issued as part of this program.

The penalty for noncompliance with the provisions of this section shall include, but not be limited to, termination from the acreage expansion program for one calendar year.

The department recognizes the uncertainties associated with groundwater occurrence and water well construction, both being dependent in large part on the geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the aquifer materials underlying a specific proposed well site. Therefore, the department shall endeavor to implement this chapter in a reasonable and practical manner consistent with its purpose.

In enforcement of this chapter, the department of ecology may impose such sanctions as are appropriate under authorities vested in it, including but not limited to the issuance of regulatory orders under RCW 43.27A.190 and civil penalties under RCW 90.03.600.

All final written decisions of the department of ecology pertaining to permits, regulatory orders, and related decisions made pursuant to this chapter shall be subject to review by the pollution control hearings board in accordance with chapter 43.21B RCW.

The department of ecology shall initiate a review of the rules established in this chapter whenever new information, changing conditions, or statutory modifications make it necessary to consider revisions.