WSWC Report: Exempt Well Issues in the West

Here is a timely report if there ever was one. It's by Nathan Bracken of the Western States Water Council. Hot off the press - thanks to Todd Jarvis.

Download Exempt_Wells_in_the_West_N_Bracken

Here is the Executive Summary:

There are over a million exempt domestic and livestock wells
located throughout the West. Although these wells are an important
source of water for a large number of water users, they also pose
significant regulatory and administrative challenges that have the
potential to impact the sustainability of water supplies, surface flows,
and water quality. In June 2008, the Western Governors’ Association
and the Western States Water Council issued a report entitled Water
Needs and Strategies for a Sustainable Future: Next Steps, which
contained recommendations on how the states and federal government
should address the ever-increasing challenges associated with water
management in the West. Item 3(D) of the Next Steps report’s
Executive Summary recommends that states “should examine their
related laws and institutions and evaluate the merits of . . . [permitting
and monitoring] exempt domestic and livestock wells as part of water
rights regulatory schemes.” The WSWC’s Legal Committee
subsequently commissioned this Report, which addresses 1) the
statutory and regulatory authority among WSWC member states
regarding exempt domestic and livestock wells, 2) the ways in which
these wells can complicate or compromise water resources allocation,
administration, and quality, 3) the specific challenges WSWC member
states are facing with respect to exempt wells, 4) the relative costs and
benefits associated with mintoring wells that are currently exempt,
and 5) the potential approaches to mitigate the adverse impacts of
exempt wells.

Enjoy!

"We never know the worth of water till the well is dry."  ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Comments

[Scott Fowler]

The exempt well has the least impact of all water uses and is generally more cost efficient. The exempt well spreads out withdrawls and keeps most of the water in the basin from which it is withdrawn. The problem is big water users have alot of hoops that they have to go thru and they the small water users as a threat. No growthers see it as away to control growth and the tribes blame streamflow for lack of fish. If you take out all of the politics and let true science dictate policy and not some model, then you would see good sound policies.