Excess Water Use Gets Farmer A Fine

Fri., June 23, 2000

From Staff Reports

A Stevens County farmer has been fined a second time in nine months - for a total of $29,400 - for allegedly irrigating crops with water he isn’t entitled to use.

Valley-area farmer Jack Simmons couldn’t be reached for comment on the new $10,000 fine by the state Department of Ecology.

Ecology Department spokeswoman Jani Gilbert said Simmons was fined this week for ignoring a cease-and-desist order last year that resulted in a $19,400 fine.

The state Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld the order in April, but Simmons again used too much water this summer and failed to install a water meter as ordered, Gilbert said.

George Schlender, an official in the Spokane office of the Ecology Department, said Simmons has received written and verbal warnings since 1994.

Simmons diverts water from Bulldog Creek, a Colville River tributary that Schlender said occasionally doesn’t have enough water for people and fish.

Gilbert said inspectors observed unauthorized irrigation earlier this month and found Simmons still hadn’t installed a water meter and was using a larger-capacity pump than his water right allows.

Simmons has 15 days to appeal the new fine.

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