Dear Governor Inslee,

I am writing on behalf of Bill and Peggy Zimmerman, the owners of Bi-Zi Farms in Clark County.  Bi-Zi Farms is a 100-acre direct market farm and pumpkin patch and a Washington State centennial farm.

I am writing because of the problems they have had attaining water rights for their irrigation well.

The Zimmermans applied for water rights with the Washington Department of Ecology more than 12 years ago and were told that their application was on-file and awaiting review and approval.  However, in November of 2020 all water rights applications in Southwest Washington were summarily denied by Department of Ecology, including theirs.

The Zimmermans are being told that they cannot use ground water for the irrigation of local produce and that the aquifer is over-allocated making new water rights unattainable.  They have also been told that their only hope is to purchase unused water rights from another farm or business located downstream of them at an unaffordable cost.

The largest holder of these water rights is the local utility company which has massive holdings that they use to guarantee their needs decades into the future.  If the Zimmermans were to sell their farm to a developer this utility company would happily and immediately provide an equivalent amount of water to approximately 500 new homes on that property from the very same aquifer.  These homes would use the same amount of water that the Zimmermans are requesting, but no water would be returned to the aquifer and no food would be produced.

This water right denial is a direct outcome of the environmental policies created by the Washington State Legislature and the Department of Ecology.  Although these policies were created to protect the environment, they are extremely detrimental to local food production which I believe to be a very important resource itself.

As a resident of Washington State and a customer of Bi-Zi Farms, I am asking for your help.  Please ask the Department of Ecology to reconsider the Zimmermans’ application for irrigation water rights so that they may continue to farm and provide our county with fresh, local produce.

This letter is my attestation that local food production is important and the ability to irrigate should be a priority.  To use the Department of Ecology’s own language, I find agriculture to be the “highest and best use” of our local groundwater.