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'Water is life' to Entiat economic development plans


Entiat.


'Water is Life' is a commonly known phrase that may be applicable to the future economic life of many rural communities, such as Entiat. The Entiat watershed was the focus of a city-Chelan County meeting Wednesday afternoon.


The future use of existing water rights for a growing community, comes with a sticking point, in that the state ecology department has to first process applications for use of certain water sources.


"We've asked ecology, similar to what we've done in the Wenatchee basin and Lake Chelan basin, to start processing water rights in the Entiat basin," said Chelan County Natural Resources Director Mike Kaputa. "There are hundreds or thousands of water rights applications that on the books statewide."


"One way to do it, the Legislature provided several years ago, that you can actually pay for the cost of processing your water right, and you can go into a watershed or tributary and actually work together to fund ecology to process water rights," Kaputa added.


A reimbursement from the state could then be applied for, since the state says they presently don't have the money for the cost of accelerating the processing of water rights.


Regardless, Entiat's “downtown” economic development vision is moving forward.


"We're looking at what development would mean for the stretch of highway on 97-A, pretty much from the food center to the gas station," Entiat Mayor Rene Swearingen said. "And then the waterfront; no longer a marina plan, but still development for businesses and recreational."


The mayor added, "My grand plan is to connect all three of these different sections of the town by a really great trail system. Make it a walkable, fun place to be and live and shop."


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