Surface water source limitations to further consumptive appropriation.
(1) The following table indicates the status of streams, tributaries and lakes affected by this chapter.
Source Name | Tributary To | Former Administrative Status | Status Under Regulation | Period of Closure | Flow Established |
Anderson Creek | Nooksack River | low flow | partial year closure | May 1-Oct. 31 | |
Bells Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | closure | year round | |
Bertrand Creek | Nooksack River | closure | closure | year round | |
Black Slough | Nooksack - South Fork | low flow | low flow | | |
California Creek | Drayton Harbor | closure | closure | year round | |
Canyon Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Canyon (Lake) Creek | Middle Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Chuckanut Creek | Chuckanut Bay | low flow | closure | year round | natural flow |
Colony Creek (incl. Whitehall) | Samish Bay | open | closure | year round | natural flow |
Cornell Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Dakota Creek | Drayton Harbor | closure | closure | year round | |
Deer Creek | Barrett Lake (Tenmile) | closure | closure | year round | |
Fishtrap Creek (incl. Double Ditch) | Nooksack River | closure | closure | year round | |
Fourmile Creek | Tenmile Creek | closure | closure | year round | |
Gallop Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Hutchinson Creek | South Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Johnson Creek | Sumas River | closure | closure | year round | |
Kamm Ditch/Stickney Slough | Nooksack River | closure | closure | year round | natural flow |
Kendall Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | closure | year round | |
Maple Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Nooksack River - mainstem | Bellingham Bay | low flow | minimum flow (new flow) | | |
Nooksack River - Middle Fk. | Nooksack River | low flow | minimum flow (new flow) | | |
Nooksack River - North Fk. | Nooksack River | low flow | partial year closure | Sept. 1-Oct. 31 | |
Nooksack River - South Fk. | Nooksack River | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Oyster Creek | Samish Bay | open | closure | year round | natural flow |
Padden Creek | Bellingham Bay | open | closure | year round | natural flow |
Porter Creek | Middle Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 1 | |
Racehorse Creek | North Fork Nooksack | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Saar Creek | Vedder Canal-Canada | open | closure | year round | |
Saxon Creek | South Fork Nooksack | open | closure | year round | natural flow |
Silver Creek | Nooksack River | low flow | partial year closure | May 1-Oct. 31 | |
Skookum Creek | South Fork Nooksack | low flow | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | |
Smith Creek | Nooksack River | low flow | partial year closure | May 1-Oct. 31 | |
Squalicum Creek | Bellingham Bay | closure | closure | year round | |
Sumas River | Vedder Canal-Canada | closure | closure | year round | |
Tenmile Creek | Nooksack River | closure | closure | year round | |
Terrell Creek | Birch Bay | open | partial year closure | May 1-Oct. 31 | |
Thompson Creek | Glacier Cr./N. Fk. | open | partial year closure | July 1-Oct. 31 | natural flow |
Unnamed Stream - Elder Ditch/Scott Ditch | Nooksack River | low flow | low flow | | |
Unnamed stream - White Creek | Colony Creek | closure | closure | | |
Whatcom Creek* | Bellingham Bay | open | closure | year round | natural flow |
Wiser Lake Creek | Nooksack River | low flow | partial year closure | May 1-Oct. 31 | |
Lummi Indian Reservation Streams | Tenmile Creek | closure | closure | | |
Barrett Lake | closure | closure | | NA |
Green Lake | Fourmile Creek | closure | closure | | NA |
Lake Terrell | Terrell Creek | closure | closure | | NA |
Lake Whatcom** | Whatcom Creek | court-ordered lake level | closure | year round | |
Wiser Lake | Wiser Lake Creek | closure | closure | | NA |
For streams listed as "natural flow," insufficient data are available to develop instream flows outside the closure period. Water right applications for consumptive use will be considered on a case by case basis in consultation with the departments of fisheries and game; tribes will also be notified.
Streams which are not specifically listed in this regulation are affected by the regulation if they are tributary to streams or lakes listed herein; otherwise such streams are not affected.
** | Lake Whatcom and its tributaries are closed to all further consumptive appropriation; however, any water right applications for consumptive use which were on file with the department of ecology on August 7, 1985 shall be exempt from the closure through the period extending one year from the effective date of this chapter. |
(2) When a project (as described in WAC
173-501-030(5)) is proposed on a stream that is closed to further appropriations, the department shall deny the water right application unless the project proponent can adequately demonstrate that the project does not conflict with the intent of the closure.
[Statutory Authority: RCW
90.54.020 (3)(a) and
90.54.040 (1) and (2). WSR 85-24-073 (Order 85-19), § 173-501-040, filed 12/4/85.]
