Thurston County in Washington secured a state grant for $2.4M to purchase 800 acre-feet (AF) of water rights from the Trans Alta Water Bank. The Water Bank has been established to repurpose the water rights that were tied to the Centralia coal power plant which is planned for closure.
The Trans Alta water rights total about 28,000 AF, of which 16,000 AF is available for purchase and use in the Chehalis River basin at a price of $2,750 per AF. Thurston County is buying water rights from the Water Bank to dedicate to instream flows, which provides for environmental benefits and also allows the county to mitigate new rural groundwater wells and continue to grow.
In much of Washington, growth in rural counties was hindered by the 2016 Hirst court decision and subsequent 2018 Streamflow Restoration Act. Water banks have been set up and water right acquisitions have occurred to provide a water supply pool to allow for rural groundwater well development. The Department of Energy recently ordered the Trans Alta Centralia plant to remain operational and burning coal, which could impact the Water Bank program and future transactions.
Politics often overlaps with water management because its such a critical natural resource that touches most aspects of our economy. Politics of protecting streamflow fueled the need to create a water bank from a retiring coal plant and the politics of energy is now interfering with that plan.
WestWater has worked on multiple projects to value and think strategically about water assets tied to coal and other energy facilities. While we can’t control political theater, we can provide information and experience to support strategic thinking as energy sources transition.