Local residents worried about the state Department of Ecology's proposal to reduce the amount of water used by residents of the Quilcene-Snow watershed will have a chance to air their concerns before legislators Nov. 10.
Sen. Jim Hargrove (D-Hoquiam) and Reps. Jim Buck (R-Joyce) and Lynn Kessler (D-Hoquiam) hold a public forum to talk about Ecology's plan to set requirements for minimum instream flow in the watershed.
The forum is set for 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10 at the Commons, Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend.
The lawmakers decided to hold the forum after receiving a deluge of letters and phone calls from local residents, said Je-Anne Rogers, an aide in Kessler's Olympia office.
"We're kind of frustrated with Ecology too," she said. "We just want to be sure the citizens are being treated fairly."
Also on hand at the meeting will be several Ecology representatives, including former water resources director Joe Stohr, who is now special assistant to the agency director, and Phil Wiatrak, the planning lead for the watershed.
Other Ecology representatives offer information on the relationship between groundwater and instream flow and the science of setting minimum flow requirements.
Ecology officials want to clear up confusion about the plan and listen to residents' concerns, DOE spokesman Curt Hart said.
"We need to take all the opportunities we can to try to explain what we've proposed in the past and what we still need to do," he said. "We don't want to go in there pretending like we know everything, because we don't."
Port Townsend resident and fruit grower Judi Stewart, who has been critical of Ecology's plan to limit how much water some watershed residents use, said she hopes lawmakers will find a way to rein in Ecology's watershed management efforts.
"I think that Ecology is worried," she said. "And they should be worried."
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