Second Hutterite Colony Fined State Says Water Used Illegally To Irrigate Potatoes In Adams County

The state Department of Ecology has fined a second Eastern Washington Hutterite colony for irrigating potatoes with illegally drawn water.

The Stahl Hutterian Brethren colony in Adams County faces a $27,000 fine. The Ecology Department contends the colony does not have a legal right to the water it used to irrigate 175 acres.

In addition, a Ritzville, Wash., farmer who owns 65 acres used by the Stahl Hutterites was fined $13,200.

Mike Loft, Spokane attorney for the colony, said his clients filed an application in March to shift existing water rights to the 175 acres, which had not been irrigated in the past. That application still was pending when the Ecology Department issued its citation.

“This is not an expansion of irrigation. This is a change from one piece of land to another,” Loft said. “The fine is excessive, and we have filed an appeal.”

George Schlender, the department’s water resources manager for Eastern Washington, acknowledged in a press release that the colony had requested the change.

“But it’s not OK to go ahead and do it without authorization,” he said.

Loft also represents the Marlin Hutterian Brethren colony, which was fined $34,500 by the Ecology Department in June, also for irrigating potatoes without a water right. That colony is 14 miles west of Odessa.

Both colonies are within the “Odessa subarea,” one of three irrigation subareas in the state that are tightly managed due to declining water tables. The others are in Grant and Okanogan counties.

Kevin Brown, the Ecology Department’s irrigation enforcement coordinator, said the Stahl Hutterites were ordered in May to stop irrigating the 175 acres and install a water meter. But the colony continued irrigating, leading to the fine, Brown said.

The colony has continued irrigating since being fined on July 25, Brown said. So the fines against it and landowner Gordon Gering may increase.

Gering, one of four partners in a family farm, said the 65 acres have been used only for unirrigated crops in the past. The land would have lain fallow this summer.

The Hutterites, who own the adjacent 110 acres, approached Gering with an offer to grow potatoes on the land while it was not being used for wheat. He accepted their offer.

“The water all originates on Hutterite property,” he said. “We didn’t realize they were out of compliance, and then all of a sudden we were notified that our land was being used without proper permits.”