Farmer Faces Irrigation Fine

The Washington state Department of Ecology has fined a Lind farmer $67,200 for unauthorized irrigation.

Raymond Jenkins of Lind was approved to irrigate 130 acres, but Ecology investigators found that he was putting water on more land even after they filed a cease-and-desist order last April.

On Sept. 30, an investigator noted four fields were being irrigated, while Jenkins only was authorized for two.

The fields were full of potatoes and corn, and ready for harvest, indicating they had been watered all season, an Ecology report said, adding Jenkins appeared to be irrigating up to 270 acres of land.

The state wants to control irrigation in the “Odessa sub-area” because of drops in the water table. The area has been managed under special regulations since the early 1970s to ensure the water does not fall more than 300 feet below a specified level.

The state has noted that farm acreage is expanding on the land, meaning more people are irrigating more land, even though they don’t have authorized water rights.

“We’ve seen quite a few instances where it looks like people are expanding their fields into raw land,” said Jani Gilbert, DOE spokeswoman. “We’re starting to investigate a bit more out there to find out if there were water rights or not. Some wells have gone dry there. It’s a real problem.”

DOE calculated Jenkins’ fine based on the number of days he appeared to have been watering and the number of acres, Gilbert said. “In this case we have all of the days between the cease-and-desist order and when the penalty went out,” he said.

Raymond Jenkins could not be reached for comment.

In September, DOE also fined Jack Simmons of Stevens County $19,400 for unauthorized irrigation.