by Karlee Deatherage Our drinking water is at a tipping point. The drinking water source for over 100,000 Whatcom County residents, Lake Whatcom, faces an onslaught of threats — from logging and development to pesticides and invasive mussels hitching rides on uninspected boats. Logging and other activities that disturb land [Read More...]
by Eric Hirst Whatcom County enjoys ample water supplies when averaged over the year, but summer conditions are quite different. Winter rains recharge groundwater and fill our streams, but summer’s hot, dry weather increases demand, especially for irrigation, and cuts stream flows. The discrepancy between summer supply and demand will [Read More...]
Lake Whatcom watershed and sub-basins (Matthews et al., 2017) by April Markiewicz Clean water. Each of us gets up every morning, turns on the water faucet and expects to have clean, fresh water at our disposal. We make coffee with it, prepare food, brush our teeth, take a [Read More...]
by Eric Hirst Dear Whatcom County Council Members, Last week's council meeting included several rural residents, builders, and realtors opposed to the recent Supreme Court decision on the future of rural permit-exempt wells. I hope attendance at next week's hearing will be more balanced. Here are several reasons why council [Read More...]
by Satpal S. Sidhu November 28, 2016 Researching and learning about the water rights issue in our County and State over the past several weeks has confused me more than it has clarified the options the County Council has to exercise. It is more complex than one can imagine, and [Read More...]
Fig. 1. Hypothetical distribution of water use for a particular crop. Interviews with those famers on the right would show what factors account for their higher than average water use and suggest ways to reduce that water use. Interviews with those on the left would show what factors account [Read More...]