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Dungeness Water Rule

The Dungeness Water Rule was signed Nov 16th, 2012, and went into effect on Jan 2nd, 2013.

It affects develpment activity in the Dungeness River and adjacent drainages (from Bagley Creek on the West to Bell Creek on the East - see map with final boundary).

This page is intended to provide links to available Water Rule documents, and will be updated frequently over the next month or so. Note that most of the web pages linked below contain further links not included on this page.

Presentation Slides from Jan 17th workshop at John Wayne Marina: How to get Building Permits on Water Rule Area parcels.

New Water Rule Documents from Department of Ecology

Dept of Ecology "Dungeness Water Management" web page This is Dept of Ecology's general page on this issue, and links to those below.

The full text of the Dungeness Water Rule: WAC 173-518

The Dungeness Water Exchange Mitigation Plan (12/3/2012, adopted 12/19/2012)
This document, required by the Water Rule, describes the mitigation program, which is designed to fund projects that generate mitigation credits to be sold to prospective water users to mitigate for their impacts to small streams and the Dungeness River.

Dungeness Water Rule Mitigation Guide
This document serves as a guide for implementing mitigation requirements.

Mitigation Application

Dept of Ecology Rule adoption documents page for the Dungeness Water Rule This page links to all documents filed in the rule making process since 2004. The following links go to the newest documents (filed in November, under "Rule Adoption").

Dept of Ecology "Dungeness Water Management Rule Background" web page This page provides a description of the background leading up to the Water Rule, including links to many explanatory documents, and process documents. Some selected links are provided below:

Frequently Asked Questions on Changes to Water Use in the Dungeness Watershed December 2012 - What homeowners, builders and real estate agents need to know about water for a new home or project.
Frequently asked questions about water management and the proposed Dungeness Rule Summer 2012 – answers to some of the questions Ecology staff encountered during their numerous visits to the community.
Setting and protecting flows in the Dungeness River January 2012 – This publication focuses on the proposed summer and early fall flows the rule would establish for the Dungeness River (“instream flows”), and explains the difference between instream flows set in rule and the target restoration flows for the same period.
Frequently Asked Questions on Water Exchange/Water Banking March 2012 - The proposed Dungeness rule would include the creation of a Dungeness Water Exchange, to provide water to offset new uses.

An open letter to citizens of the Dungeness watershed (From Ted Sturdevant, Director of Dept of Ecology)
A response to Clallam County Commissioners (From Ted Sturdevant, Director of Dept of Ecology)

Memorandum of Understanding between Clallam County and Dept of Ecology (regarding the Water Rule)

Dungeness Water Rule Area Interactive Map (Also available from County Web Map page)

In addition to the information already on this map, it now shows the Irrigation District boundaries, the area where Outdoor Mitigation Packages are available, and a draft layer of the Group A Water System Boundaries. The parcel search function has also been fixed.

Downloadable 11x17" PDF map of Water Rule Area.

Estimates of the number of parcels affected by the water rule.

Chart: New Homes in Dept of Ecology Water Rule Area 1990-2011 (Clallam County DCD data)