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Celebrate Water 2015

On May 21, 2015, the Center for Environmental Law & Policy (CELP) will host its annual Celebrate Water event to commemorate another successful year of CELP's work in Washington State and present the Ralph W. Johnson Award to the Upper Columbia United Tribes. By honoring UCUT, this award also recognizes and honors all 15 Tribes and 17 First Nations of the Columbia Basin for their leadership in the United States and Canada respectively: restoring salmon and the Columbia River.

CELP's mission is to protect and restore Washington's rivers and aquifers through science-based management of our water resources. CELP works through public education, agency advocacy, policy reform, and public interest litigation to achieve this mission and is known as Washington's water watchdog. Indeed, with climate change reducing our glaciers and threatening our groundwater supply and a growing population spurring more development, water is becoming increasingly scarce in Washington. That shortage makes CELP's work of promoting sustainable use of our water resources more imperative than ever. We hope you can join us on May 21 and raise much-needed funds for CELP's important work in Washington!

We will also be offering a CLE workshop before the event reception, from 4 to 5 pm: Water Rights, Land Use, Instream Flows: Current Supreme Court cases.

Jean Melious will speak on the extent to which local governments must address water issues, including exempt wells, in land use planning under the Growth Management Act in the context of a pending Supreme Court case (Hirst v Whatcom County). Patrick Williams will speak on a case (Foster v Yelm) argued in the Supreme Court on the morning of Celebrate Water, where the Court is being asked to apply its 2013 decision in the Swinomish case to impairment of established instream flows in the Nisqually River as part of Ecology's issuance of a new water right to the City of Yelm.

Learn more about our work at www.celp.org.