Ecology letters coming to 30k Whatcom County water users as part of adjudication process
About 30,000 Whatcom County landowners will be receiving certified letters in the mail this week asking about how they use water.
It’s the first step in a Whatcom County Superior Court case involving the state Department of Ecology and everyone who uses water from the Nooksack River and its aquifer, a geographic area known as Water Resource Inventory Area 1. It generally includes western Whatcom County and parts of northwest Skagit County.
Letters mailed this week include a summons, instructions and a court claim form related to the adjudication of water rights, as the process is called.
“These forms are the first step in a legal process, called adjudication, that will determine who has a right to use water in the Nooksack Basin, and how much water they are entitled to,” Ecology spokesman Jimmy Norris said in a statement announcing the mailing. “Resolving those questions will provide the basis for long-term water supply planning in a region where there is a growing demand for a limited amount of water.”
Since the letters are being sent by certified mail, they must be signed for by an adult, Norris said. The postal service will try one time to deliver to each address. Otherwise, recipients will have 15 days to pick up the letter at a post office.
Information about water use must be returned by May 1, 2026. Those who don’t return a completed form could lose their water rights.
Affected parties include local governments, including Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Tribe, farmers, businesses and rural residents with wells — anyone who takes water from rivers, creeks, ponds, lakes and groundwater in the Nooksack Basin.
Water users will have to tell the court how they use the water, how much water they use, and when they started using it, even if their water comes from a “permit exempt” well.
People who get their water from a utility such as the city of Bellingham won’t be affected, Ecology said.
