We've noted that water resource issues are complex and can lead to confrontations.  There's no accident that the "Whiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting" concept has a long tradition in the West.  One of the reasons that discussions about water resources can easily become heated is that we don't always think about the challenges and opportunities the issues bring at the same time.

Many of us look at the instream flow issue, for instance, as pitting people against fish.  While that's one way to see things, the challenge of balancing the needs of the human population with (instead of against) those of the threatened and endangered fish species actually comes with some wonderful opportunities.

If the adopted instream flow rule is the version that assigns all unappropriated water in a basin as the instream flow water right, and rations back a tiny portion of the water for future development, then there are severe economic and social consequences on the horizon.  If the rule is one that leads to significantly increased quantities of storage and new surface and in-ground storage units, with active stream flow augmentation as needed, then there are much improved economic opportunities for the community, and much-enhanced habitat for fish species.  This provides additional benefits in terms of new irrigation opportunities and rural fire protection enhancement.

One of the challenges that will need to be met in this case, in order to take advantage of the opportunities, is to convince the Department of Ecology that the storage-based option is preferable to the "confiscation and rationing" option.  Although used specifically for the Columbia Basin, the two-thirds out-of-stream, one-third for instream flow management concept embodied in the recently enacted SHB 2860 offers a precedent worth considering for adoption in WRIAs across Washington.

Part of our recognition "R" involves making a determination of whether we can get to where we need to be by working within current legislative boundaries, or whether we will need to go to our legislators for amendments to current laws or the development of new law.  There are times when it will take legislative action to make available new opportunities for meeting existing or new challenges.