U.S. Water News Online
YAKIMA, Wash. -- It could be clear by late fall whether a settlement can be reached in the largest water-rights lawsuit in state history, litigation which has been ongoing since 1977.
In a recent progress report to the Yakima County Superior Court, mediator Jerry Cormick said progress is being made with individual irrigation district issues now, and it should be evident by November whether the broader basin-wide issues can be resolved.
``We would know by that date whether we can reach agreement on the total package,'' he said outside the courtroom.
The dispute involves 40,000 water users and multiple irrigation districts in the Yakima River Basin, along with the federal and state governments, the Yakama Nation, and the cities of Yakima and Sunnyside.
The case, being overseen by Pro Tem Judge Walter Stauffacher, will decide who gets how much water and whose water rights have precedence here in the irrigated orchard country of central Washington.
The water supply for 460,000 acres is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Lawyers are not discussing details of the negotiations in public and, in fact, most of the details so far are not even provided to the court in the event the case cannot be settled.
One of the key issues has been whether irrigation districts relinquish their rights to their water allocation if they don't use all of it. Lawyers for the irrigation districts have called relinquishment a disincentive to conserve.
To date, agreements in principle for settling the case have been reached with the Yakima-Tieton and the Kennewick irrigation districts.
Stauffacher has granted multiple extensions to the parties involved to continue mediation. Monthly progress reports are made to the judge.
The complex case began in 1977 when the state Department of Ecology went to court to resolve a number of ongoing water disputes.
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