North Bend gets boost in water rights issue, details still uncertain
Published 1:01 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
NORTH BEND – A state project that could eventually put an end to the city’s four-year building moratorium has received a thumbs up from a Gov. Gary Locke task force.
On Dec. 16, at a Department of Ecology meeting the Early Action/Pilot Projects selected by the Gov. Gary Locke’s Central Puget Sound Team for the Central Puget Sound Water Initiative Strategy (CPSWIS) were announced. Among those selected was the Sallal Water Project.
That project consists of the development of a source of additional water while providing environmental benefits in the Snoqualmie River system. If pursued and completed, the project could put an end to a building moratorium in North Bend, established in 1999, by giving the city much needed water rights.
The selection of the Sallal Water project will place it among a priority list of 15 projects.
Although city officials are calling the selection an “excellent tiding” they admit the specifics of the project’s approval are sketchy.
The state hasn’t given details of what the selection of these projects exactly means in terms of timelines and overall priority. Funding for the projects is undecided and won’t be known until the Legislature starts its session next year.
