On August 30, 2019, the Colville Tribe submitted a request to the Washington State Department of Ecology seeking to quantify the Tribes’ water rights through general stream adjudications. A general stream adjudication is a judicial process to determine the extent and priority of all of the water rights associated with an entire river or stream system. The Tribe specifically asked Ecology to commence general stream adjudications for the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers. The Columbia is the longest river in Washington and forms a large part of the border between Washington and Oregon. An adjudication of the Columbia would be a massive undertaking.
Although the Tribe has long utilized water from both of these rivers, as well as through other sources, the exact amount or quantity of water subject to the Tribe’s right has not been specified. The Tribe’s request comes just a few months after Ecology completed the Yakima River general stream adjudication, which took forty-two years from initial filing until entry of the final decree. The Department of Ecology is not required to start an adjudication based on this request, however, they will consider the request and decide whether or not to act upon it. If the Department of Ecology chooses to take action on either or both rivers, the resulting adjudications could affect water rights for multiple tribes, municipal governments, countless farmers, citizens, and multiple states
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