Defending our Shorelines

Land Use

Critical Areas Ordinance Update Shoreline Master Program Update

Water

Endangered Species

Recent Actions

San Juan Countys unprecedented growth in the past few decades has resulted in significant threats to the islands rural landscape and fresh water resources.  As the county's population grows, its demands on water quality and availability become more pressing, particularly because that water is limited to recharge from rainfall.  Key issues include low water recharge to aquifers, seawater intrusion, well failure during summer months, and lack of capacity to serve areas designated for growth by the county's Comprehensive Plan.

FRIENDS participates on San Juan Countys Water Resource Management Committee to guide water development that is sensitive to the Countys limited water resources.  FRIENDS also advocates against proposals that fail to adequately address water quantity or quality concerns.

The people of Washington state own all fresh water in common, including rain.  Water, like air, is a benefit for all.  Consequently, the state Department of Ecology regulates the use of both surface water and groundwater through a water rights system known as first-in-time, first-in-right.  Typically, the first person to prove to Ecology that they have put a specific amount of water to use will obtain a right for the use of that amount of water.  Later applicants must show that their use of a certain amount of water will not impact those who obtained the right to use water before them.

In San Juan County, however, many water users take advantage of an exemption from the permitting requirement (though not the requirement to avoid impacting prior rights holders) for the use of less than 5,000 gallons per day of groundwater.  Because those wells are not required to report their water use, it is difficult to ascertain the quantity of water needed for planning purposes.  Efforts are being made to estimate both the amount of water available for use and the amount likely to be used as the County continues to grow.

Aquifers are water-bearing layers of rock and soil that store water underground.  In San Juan County, more than half the population taps these aquifers for drinking water (the other half draw from surface water sources, like Friday Harbors Trout Lake reservoir).  Through the Critical Area Ordinance update, the County has designated all its land as a critical aquifer

recharge area because the County draws its water solely from underground aquifers and because those aquifers are highly susceptible to contamination by surface pollutants.  Typical pollutants include petroleum products from automobiles and other machinery, fertilizers, and inadequately treated animal and human wastes.

Seawater intrusion, contamination of the aquifer by salt water, is already occurring in several coastal areas, particularly on Lopez.  Seawater can enter an aquifer by two routes, lateral intrusion and upconing.  Lateral intrusion occurs when too much water is pumped from the aquifer, causing the lens of fresh water in the aquifer to thin.  When the lens thins, the pressure keeping saltwater offshore diminishes, and the mixed salt and fresh water moves inland.

Upconing occurs when a well, drilled near the shoreline in the thin edges of the aquifer, pumps salty water from the zone of transition directly into the well.  Sometimes adequate fresh water resources exist in the aquifer, but because a well is poorly sited, it pumps seawater into the well.  Recharge to the aquifer creates a healthy outward flow.  Some of the recharge can be diverted for human use with no harm to the system.  But if we mine the aquifer, taking more than a sustainable percentage of the recharge, we destroy the health of the whole system. 

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if a wetland is not already degraded, the most effective protection strategy can be as simple as providing a buffer between it and any activities that might be harmful.  Depending on the size and condition of a wetland, it may be protected by an array of local, state and federal regulations.

For information on specific land use activities, properties and local wetland ordinances, contact the Community Development and Planning Department at 378-2354.