Home

About VVWUA

Our Water Rights

Our Responsibilities

Our Domestic Water System

Cross-Connection Control

Our Irrigation System

Sprinkler Specifications

Finances and Budget

News and Bulletins

Archived Bulletins

Download Documents

FAQs

Understanding Our Water Rights

The Association holds two water certificates issued by the Department of Ecology, one for surface water diversion the other for ground water withdrawal.

Irrigation Water

The surface water certificate allows the Association to divert 641 acre-feet of water from the Okanogan river between April 1 and November 1 for the irrigation of 163 acres at a maximum withdrawl rate of 3.2 cubic feet per second, or 1440 gallons per minute (gpm). The actual flow rate is somewhat less than 3.2 c.f.s. and depends on the number of days the pumps are in operation. Our established pattern is to pump for 48 hours and shut down for 36 hours from mid-April to mid-October, a period equivalent to 105 days of full-time pumping. Six hundred forty one acre feet divided by 163 acres gives us 3.93 feet of water per acre per year, or
3.93/(105x24X60) x 325851.4 = 8.47 gals/minute/acre. The original surface water permit was issued on September 19, 1968. Our surface water right was "perfected" and the water certificate issued in April 1977.

Domestic Water

The original ground water permit was issued on 07/24/78 and allowed the Association to withdraw 200 gallons per minute from a well located in Section 20 of Twp. 34, Rng. 27. The permit authorized the Association to supply domestic water to 32 homes.

The well was drilled on August 7, 1978. The well is 204 feet deep with an 8-inch well casing to its full depth. The static water level was at 21 feet. The well was pump tested to 200 gallons per minute (gpm). Download the well log and well draw-down test report here.

The Dept. issued our Certificate of Water Right on Mar 9, 1982. Because the original 163 acres were never divided into the 32 5-plus acre lots permitted in our Bylaws, the Dept. of Ecology would allow only the 25 parcels then existing to receive connections to domestic water. Two of these parcels are quite separate from the rest of the subdivision and have never received hook-ups. Further, the continuous withdrawal rate was reduced from 200 gpm to 180 gpm. The water right was subject to relinquishment for non-use of water.

As long as irrigation water is available members are not allowed to use domestic water for irrigation purposes, including use of domestic water on lawns. This is a violation of the water permit and continued use could lead to state sanctions.

Our water system is on the Washington State Dept. of Health (DOH) inventory; DOH oversees the manner in which the water system is operated to ensure our safety. Our domestic water system operator, Doug Hale (Alpine Environmental), will be inspecting each landowner's system for cross contamination as required by DOH.

Go to top of page

For further information contact: Stu Skidmore, President; Mike Stenberg, Vice President;
Gary Carlton, Secretary; or, Tracy Oestreich, Trustee;

We welcome your comments on the website.