There's a whole lot of research going on out there!  The question for us is, how much of that research is going to lead to practical solutions that can be implemented and accomplish their goals, while remaining affordable?

As we work with the WRIA process, and particularly with the instream flow rules, we need to be advocating research projects that are directed toward developing accurate, localized characterizations of how our watersheds work, how the water resources contained in them flow and function, and what we can do to improve our water resource management practices.

Although we are required to use the best available science (BAS) in the decision-making process leading to policy change, we need to remember that BAS has to be more than simply what's already available.  There are many missing pieces in water resources research, particularly where ground water is involved.  Until those pieces are filled in, we won't have the information we need for developing the best solutions possible.

For instance, there's considerable confusion in Washington as to the significance of "hydraulic continuity" when discussing the interactions between ground water and surface water.  There are Washington court cases where the concept was used, and hydraulic continuity is a concept within Darcy's Law, which describes how water moves underground.  The term is also used in connection with heavy equipment, where hydraulic continuity involves two or more hydraulic fluid hoses connected to the same hydraulic oil reservoir.  The weakness to the term's use becomes evident when a literature search demonstrates that Washington is one of the very few jurisdictions applying the concept quite so broadly in water policy.

We would advocate moving to the default position of using more traditionally accepted applications of Darcy's Law to describe how water interacts in relation to instream flows.

Researching toward solutions will need to include extensive ground water modeling, refining hydrogeologic characterization of WRIAs and their constituent basins, whole-basin surveys for surface reservoir, aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), and deep high-volume well siting opportunities.  Follow-on research would include engineering feasibility studies for these instream flow support opportunities, along with researching and advocating for grant and appropriated funding opportunities at all levels.