Home 
Public Works, Energy & Utilities State suspends ‘safe yield’ water policy
State officials have suspended a “safe yield” interpretation and determinations of the Water Management Act following the resignation of four conservation groups from the Water Management Act Advisory Committee in October.
Officials announced that a new “safe yield” water policy would take into account the ecological health of river systems.
The Department of Environmental Protection announced that it will work with stakeholders, including the MMA, to quickly develop an interim safe yield determination based on this interpretation and will use the interpretation in WMA permitting on a short-term basis.
At issue is a cornerstone of the 1986 Water Management Act, a requirement that the state determine the “safe yield” of river basins. This threshold was long considered by state officials and environmentalists to be the amount of water that can safely be taken from a waterway during a drought while protecting fish and other river life. The state spent years attempting to come up with a formula to calculate safe-yield amounts for the state’s 27 watershed basins.
Faced with lawsuits over the safe yield definition, state environmental officials issued a formal definition in October, describing safe yield as the amount of water present during a drought year in each of the state’s 27 watershed basins.
In addition to developing an interim safe yield determination, the DEP will also establish a schedule for developing a long-term safe yield methodology and will attempt to complete final safe yield determinations within a year for the rest of the river basins in the state.
The new long-term safe yield methodology will be promulgated as a regulation under the Water Management Act and pursuant to Chapter 30A, with the intent that it be applicable to all new permits immediately and to all existing permits, including permits issued during the interim period, no later than the next five-year review period for each permit.
On Dec. 9, Lucy Edmondson, the DEP’s deputy commissioner for policy and planning, is scheduled to attend a meeting of the MMA’s Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment to discuss the administration’s efforts to reform the Water Management Act, including interim and new long-term safe yield methodology.
Public Works, Energy & Utilities State suspends ‘safe yield’ water policy
State suspends ‘safe yield’ water policy
State officials have suspended a “safe yield” interpretation and determinations of the Water Management Act following the resignation of four conservation groups from the Water Management Act Advisory Committee in October.
Officials announced that a new “safe yield” water policy would take into account the ecological health of river systems.
The Department of Environmental Protection announced that it will work with stakeholders, including the MMA, to quickly develop an interim safe yield determination based on this interpretation and will use the interpretation in WMA permitting on a short-term basis.
At issue is a cornerstone of the 1986 Water Management Act, a requirement that the state determine the “safe yield” of river basins. This threshold was long considered by state officials and environmentalists to be the amount of water that can safely be taken from a waterway during a drought while protecting fish and other river life. The state spent years attempting to come up with a formula to calculate safe-yield amounts for the state’s 27 watershed basins.
Faced with lawsuits over the safe yield definition, state environmental officials issued a formal definition in October, describing safe yield as the amount of water present during a drought year in each of the state’s 27 watershed basins.
In addition to developing an interim safe yield determination, the DEP will also establish a schedule for developing a long-term safe yield methodology and will attempt to complete final safe yield determinations within a year for the rest of the river basins in the state.
The new long-term safe yield methodology will be promulgated as a regulation under the Water Management Act and pursuant to Chapter 30A, with the intent that it be applicable to all new permits immediately and to all existing permits, including permits issued during the interim period, no later than the next five-year review period for each permit.
On Dec. 9, Lucy Edmondson, the DEP’s deputy commissioner for policy and planning, is scheduled to attend a meeting of the MMA’s Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment to discuss the administration’s efforts to reform the Water Management Act, including interim and new long-term safe yield methodology.
Written by MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Tom Philbin
