PUD outlines countywide water‑system planning approach and how new water‑rule affects rights and mitigation

Bowen Kendrick, the PUD director overseeing water and wastewater planning, walked DRMT members through the PUD’s water‑system planning process, water‑rights self‑assessment and strategic implications of the Dungeness Water Rule.

Kendrick explained the PUD’s approach to demand forecasting — converting populations to equivalent residential units (ERUs), calculating average daily and maximum demands per ERU, and accounting for distribution system leakage. “An equivalent residential unit is basically kind of a quantification of how much a single family residence of water utilizes,” he said, outlining tables in the PUD’s planning document.

The PUD summarized its current water‑rights portfolio and noted a long‑pending application (g‑230364) from 2006 remains on the books; its preliminary self‑assessment shows an instantaneous surplus of source capacity and hundreds of acre‑feet per year in excess of current use under medium‑term forecasts. But Kendrick stressed that under the new water rule, changes to existing water‑rights or moves to deeper aquifers could trigger Ecology mitigation requirements if new consumptive use is created. He described mitigation options including non‑consumptive demonstrations or mitigation projects (for example, managed recharge or exchanges) to offset impacts.

Kendrick urged county leadership to consider coordinated countywide planning and a regional managed aquifer recharge strategy to improve long‑term reliability and reduce duplicated investment by overlapping service areas. He said the PUD is willing to participate in coordination but noted statute delegates primary responsibility for coordinated planning to the county.

Questions from DRMT members focused on review timing, Ecology/DOH joint review processes and opportunities for grant funding to support studies and coordination.