HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Work Session Jul 20 2021Whatcom County
Council Water Work Session
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360) 778-5010
Minutes - Final
VIRTUAL MEETING - (TO PARTICIPATE, SEE INSTRUCTIONS AT
www.whatcomcounty.us/joinvirtualcouncil OR CALL 360.778.5010)
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
10:30 AM
Virtual Meeting
COUNCILMEMBERS
Rud Browne
Barry Buchanan
Tyler Byrd
Todd Donovan
Ben Elenbaas
Carol Frazey
Kathy Kershner
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C.
Council Water Work Session Minutes - Final July 20, 2021
Call To Order
Roll Call
Council Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 10:32 a.m. in a
virtual meeting.
Present: 5 - Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, Ben Elenbaas, and Carol Frazey
Absent: 2 - Rud Browne, and Kathy Kershner
Announcements
Water Resources Update
Gary Stoyka, Public Works Department, updated the Councilmembers on
the following:
• Where things are with talks about adjudication and potential
settlement and a readiness assessment being done by Cascadia
Policy Solutions to determine if the involved parties are ready to
engage in a collaborative process to try to resolve water issues.
• The County's work on Drainage Based Management to help resolve
water quality, quantity, habitat, and instream flow issues
• The Public Utility District's (PUD) Regional Water Supply process
working in the three pilot basins
• The completion of the peer review of the groundwater model of the
northern part of Whatcom County
• Water Use Efficiency
• Meetings of the Watershed Management Board
• The County's work on integrated monitoring and central data
management by hiring a consultant to help create a data hub
He answered questions about how legal authority gets purveyed if there is a
negotiated settlement, how the Council can get more information from the
pre -settlement meetings, Department of Ecology's pre -adjudication process
and timeline, whether settlement discussions will wait until the
pre -adjudication process is done, and whether information about using
surface water storage to bring instream flows up could be included in the
groundwater model.
Lake Whatcom TMDL Update
Cathy Craver, Public Works Department, updated the Councilmembers and
gave a presentation. She answered what the acronym in "CE-QUAL W2
(Lake Response model)" means, and whether they are doing a heat map of
Whatcom County Page I Printed on 81112021
Council Water Work Session Minutes - Final July 20, 2021
just the public lands.
Potential South Fork Property Acquisitions
Chris Elder, Public Works Department, updated the Councilmembers and
gave a presentation.
He answered questions about who owns the Stewart Mountain property and
where is located in relation to Lake Whatcom Park, how long this process
will take and whether funding will come to the Council piece by piece as it
lines up or whether it will be done as one package, how many total acres the
projects add up to, and the plan for Black Slough Wetland Restoration
Complex.
Items Added by Revision
Other Business
Adjournment
There were no agenda items added by revision.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 11:37 a.m.
The County Council approved these minutes on July 27, 2021.
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Kristi Felbinger, Minutes Transcription
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WA
Bat uchanan, Council Chair
Whatcom County Page 2 Printed on 81112021