For the first time in more than half a century, the application fees for issuing or changing water rights and water-storage projects increased today.
The fees, last amended in 1951, were updated by the state legislature this year.

Under the new law, 80 percent of the revenue generated by the water-right fees will go into the state’s general fund. The other 20 percent is earmarked for Ecology to develop and manage a water-rights tracking system, including a mapping system and database that will be accessible through the Internet.
The new fee structure will cover about 4 percent of Ecology’s costs to process water-right and water-storage applications.

“The old water-right fees were so far behind the times, they covered less than 1 percent of the department’s costs for processing the applications,” said Ken Slattery, who oversees Ecology’s water-resources program. “While the new fees still don’t come close to covering the true cost of processing water-right and storage applications, we at least will stop losing money by cashing very small checks.”

Changes to the fee structure include:

— Water-right certificates, from $5 to $50.

— Recording the assignment of a water-right permit to another party, from $5 to $50.

— Applications for new water rights and water-storage projects, from a minimum of $10 to a minimum of $50. (The fee for a new water right will be $1 per one-hundredth cubic foot per second (cfs). The fee for new storage projects will be $2 per acre-foot of storage, up to a maximum of $25,000 for new large water-use and water-storage projects.)

— Transferring, changing or amending an existing water-right certificate, permit or claim or, from a minimum of $10 to a minimum of $50.The fee will be assessed at 50 cents per one-hundredth cfs of water, to a maximum of $12,500.

— Changing an existing water-storage project, from a minimum of $10 to a minimum of $50. The assessment will be $1 for each acre-foot of water, to a maximum of $12,500.

— Extending the amount of time to grow into a water right or to complete a water-right change or transfer, from $5 a year to $50 for each application.

— Temporary or seasonal water-right changes, from $10 to $50.

— A new $50 filing fee to amend an existing water-right claim.

— Filing and recording a formal protest against a water-right or water-storage application, from $2 to $50. There is no fee required to submit a comment about an application.

— Inspection fees for non-hydropower dams and reservoirs are based on the actual cost of inspection, including expenses. The minimum fee for examining plans for projects that store 10 or more acre-feet of water is at least $10, or a fee equal to the actual cost of examination.

There also are a number of exemptions with the fee structure. No fees are required for:

— Applications for emergency withdrawal authorizations or for temporary drought-related water-right changes where a drought emergency is in effect.

— Donating or acquiring a water right for a water trust that benefits stream flows or has other public benefits.

— Applications for water-right changes filed with a water conservancy board or for Ecology’s review of a conservancy board’s decision.

— Water-right acquisition, storage or change requests filed by a party under a cost-reimbursement agreement entered into under state law.

— Storage projects or reservoirs that are less than 10 years old provided Ecology has already examined and approved the construction plans.
For high-hazard dams that are older than 10 years but less than 20 years and had plans approved by the department, Ecology cannot charge an inspection fee more than that for a significant-hazard dam.

The fees are payable by check or money order. Ecology cannot accept cash, and all fees must be collected prior to any requested action. None of the fees are refundable.