Nooksack adjudication

Ecology is responsible for managing the water resources of the state. This includes issuing permits for the right to use water and protecting instream resources for the benefit of the public. WRIA 1 provides critical habitat for endangered and threatened species, but it faces growing pressure from water users and uncertainty about legal water use.

Due to the changing climate, our region is experiencing warmer temperatures and drier summer conditions compared to historical norms. Snow that used to regularly build our mountain snowpack for spring melts now falls as rain in the winter. Much of the area's streams and rivers are dependent on melting snow in the late spring and summer months when the water demand is the highest. Unfortunately, the snow that used to provide natural water storage is no longer reliable.

Over the years, state and local leaders have worked hard to resolve disputes over WRIA 1 water. This has involved rulemaking, county growth management planning, and enforcement. But years of work has failed to reach a full solution. In 2019, the Legislature funded an Ecology assessment of the statewide need for adjudication, and Ecology identified WRIA 1 as a top priority area.  As recommended in this report, the Legislature has since provided funding for the adjudication to be filed.

Over time, the adjudication will make it easier for farmers and others to identify legal water rights to buy, sell, or lease through water banks. Once there is a court decree determining all the legal rights to use water, negotiating changes or mitigation will be easier. Additionally, the adjudication is expected to protect streamflows by clarifying legal stream protections and quantifying the legal quantity, place, and season of uses of valid water rights and vested claims. Right now, this information is very limited. Adjudication will create the first definitive inventory of WRIA 1 water rights for the future.

Ultimately, adjudication will enable reliable water management and provide predictability and consistency that will serve the local economy, communities and environment.

While you now have until June 1, 2027, to submit your court claim form, we strongly recommend that you file soon instead of waiting until the last minute. We want you to have enough time to find resources and get your questions answered. We’d also appreciate your help with encouraging your friends and neighbors to file their claim forms sooner rather than later.

On March 17, 2025, we mailed over 30,000 adjudication documents to all identified landowners who use surface or groundwater in Water Resources Inventory Area (WRIA) 1.  Since then, thousands of your neighbors in Whatcom and Skagit counties have filed court claim forms with the Whatcom County Superior Court. 

If you’re one of the people who have already filed, we’d like to hear from you. Reply to this email and tell us why you decided to file early. Here’s what Rob N. from your community shared with us:

"I filed my water claim early to get it out of the way and not forget about it. All the advice from the Department of Ecology was helpful in getting it done."

If you haven’t filed already, we’d like to hear from you, too. Let us know if there’s information you need from us to help you file. Or contact us to make your free appointment today to get one-on-one help.

For each step in filing your court claim form, check out our guide, watch this instructional video or visit the Water Adjudication Case Documents and Docket | Whatcom County, WA - Official Website

If you only use water from a public water system, you don’t have to do anything.

You can file your court claim form online using the Whatcom County Superior Court's Guide and File system. We suggest using Chrome, Edge or Firefox.  Safari is not recommended. 

The deadline for filing a claim is June 1, 2027.

The fee for filing the claim form is set by law, and Ecology is not able to adjust or waive it. The law says that: “For filing an adjudication claim under RCW 90.03.180, a fee of $25 must be charged.” RCW 36.18.016. The Whatcom County Superior Court Clerk takes the $25 into an account which directly funds local clerk operations including the staff hired to process the adjudication claims. The extra $1 Guide and File fee goes to the vendor, Tyler Technologies, under a contract with the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Check your records

• In person: The court will stamp your form, give you a receipt, and provide your case number.
• Online: You will receive two confirmation emails providing a subcase or case number formatted as follows: 25‑2‑8XXXX‑37

Take a look at the monthly Court Docket Archive.This is the best way to confirm your filing.

• Docket sheets are posted monthly and list filings from the previous 90 days.
• Dockets are listed by the month in which the filing was recieved.
• It may take up to one month for your name to appear, depending on when you submitted your form.

Starting March 2025, Ecology sent forms by certified mail to all property owners in Water Resources Inventory Area 1 (WRIA 1) who are within the area of a recorded water right or outside a public water system service area. This does not include people who only use water from a public water system like a city connection.

If you receive a form, our records show you may be a water rights holder or claimant. You’ll fill out the form about your water use and submit it to the court in person, by mail, or online.

In the following years, the Whatcom County Superior Court will review the forms and inventory all legal water rights. The adjudication process will determine whether each water right on a source is legal, how much water can be used, and its priority during water shortages. Then, Ecology will issue adjudicated certificates for all these uses.