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Understanding Our Water RightsThe Association holds two water certificates issued by the Department of Ecology, one for surface water diversion the other for ground water withdrawal. Irrigation WaterThe 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 Domestic WaterThe 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.
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
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