WATCH: Water rights group slams state Ecology office for permit gridlock

(The Center Square) – A fight over water rights is heating up in south-central Washington.

The Columbia–Snake River Irrigators Association is calling on state leaders including Governor Bob Ferguson to intervene and force the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Office of Columbia River to expedite a groundwater project after years of permitting stalls.

The delays have postponed permanent farmworker housing projects in central Washington.

Mercer Ranches, a prominent, family-owned agricultural operation spanning over 12,000 acres in the Horse Heaven Hills region, applied for water rights to use groundwater in 2020, but the application then changed to include farmworker housing.

“The program that they would have received the water from requires them to show ...