PHOTO BY JOHN WEYMER

Representatives from the Cascade Water Alliance, Puyallup and Muckleshoot Tribes signed an agreement Aug. 6 regarding water in the White River and Lake Tapps.

Tribes sign agreement on White River

By John Larson

Cascade Water Alliance, Puyallup Tribe and Muckle-shoot Tribe recently approved an agreement for protection of fish habitat, water supply and recreation in the White River and Lake Tapps that will provide water for growing suburban areas in the future while meeting the tribes’ goals for protecting fish habitat.     

Cascade Water Alliance is a partnership among eight city governments and water districts that joined together in 1999 to provide water supply for current and future needs in south King County and the suburbs east of Seattle.

It purchased Lake Tapps from Puget Sound Energy earlier this year. It expects to begin using the lake as a water supply in the mid-2020s.

John Bell, law offices director for Puyallup Tribe, said discussions were underway for several years between the Tribe, Cascade Water Alliance and Puget Sound Energy. During the same timeframe, Muckleshoot representatives held discussions with those two entities.

John Bell said the agreement represents a compromise among all the parties, but everyone was satisfied with the final result. It calls for flows that mimic natural flows and will protect fish habitat while allowing for maintenance and enhancement projects.

“Compromise is necessary to reach an agreement such as this,” he said. “The agreement is definitely a step forward.”

The agreement allows for adequate water flows and will result in improved fish habitat.

Puyallup Tribal Council approved the agreement June 12. Muckleshoot Tribal Council did likewise the following day and the board of the alliance approved it June 25. The agreement was the culmination of four years of negotiations.

“You always know something like this will take time. A few years ago, we might not have thought it would take this long,” John Bell remarked. “Looking back, everyone involved would say the time involved was necessary.”

Cascade has submitted portions of the agreement to Washington State Department of Ecology and has requested these elements be incorporated into the report of examination for the municipal water rights and included as conditions of the Lake Tapps Reservoir water rights permit.

The environmental impact statement process is underway. It likely will be completed within the next several months, while the report of examination is expected to be done early next year (2009).   

Puyallup Tribal Council-member Henry John attended a signing ceremony Aug. 6 at the Muckleshoot Tribe’s headquarters.

He noted that when he was young there was not much water flowing in the White River.

Construction of a dam began in 1911. It operated for more than 90 years until Puget Sound Energy shut it down in 2004. Lake Tapps is a man-made body of water, created as a reservoir for the dam.

After the dam ceased operations, water flows in the river approximately more than tripled at some times of the year (125 cfs to 600-800 cfs) and salmon numbers increased.

“That showed us a lot,” Henry John said. “More water meant more fish.”

He said Puyallup Tribe will receive $14 million from the agreement. Of that, about $1.5 million will go toward legal costs. In addition to time put into the negotiations from attorneys working for the Tribe, a law firm from Seattle also represented the Puyallups.

The remaining money will go into habitat restoration. “Time will tell if it will have a good impact on breeding habitat,” Henry John commented.

Henry John noted the hard work put into the agreement from employees of the Tribe, including John Bell, Sam Stiltner, Lisa Brautigam and Cynthia Lyman from the law office, Bill Sullivan and Char Naylor from environment and natural resources and Russ Ladley from fisheries and hatcheries.

“I think everybody made positive contributions,” he remarked.

Russ Ladley, an environmental biologist, discussed the significance of the alliance’s future plans to divert massive amounts of water from Lake Tapps to cities and unincorporated areas to the north in King County. He said it is unprecedented in Washington for so much water to be diverted from a recreational area.

“It is a settlement, which by definition means no one got what they wanted,” Russ Ladley said of the agreement. But he feels confident that water levels in the White River after the alliance begins diverting water north will be enough to provide for the needs of fish.

The agreement took into account water quality, temperature and oxygen levels, fishery and recreational needs and other issues. A key point was ensuring adequate water flows in August, the month when it is traditionally the lowest, Russ Ladley noted.

He said the agreement will provide the best water flow in the river since the dam operation began in 1911. “This will be the best fishery environment in the White River since then.”

Elaine Kraft, intergovernmental and communications director for Cascade Water Alliance, said the agreement represents the parties finding common ground. The alliance shares the tribes’ commitment to fish habitat. “That was a mutual interest,” she said. “We all had the same commitment.”

The deal will ensure adequate water for the alliance’s customers, fish and recreational users of Lake Tapps, she added.

“This ensures the White River will be protected and maintained on a lot of fronts.”

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