By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

The Lake Tapps Task Force met Thursday at the Public Safety Building to get a progress report on the water rights, sale of the lake and barrier dam.

Tom Loranger, regional director of water resources for the Department of Ecology, reported the draft issuance of the water right is expected Dec. 15.

&#8220First there will be a review period,” Loranger said. &#8220Once we sign off on it there will be about a 30-day appeal period.”

Loranger said Ecology is looking at keeping 500 cubic feet per second of water flowing through the river, which is 150 CFS higher than previously considered.

During periods of drought this could cause problems for recreational use of the lake.

&#8220In drought situations we need a plan to protect the fish and recreation,” Pierce County Councilman Shawn Bunney said. &#8220We want to look at the interests of the people on the lake and our responsibility to the fish.”

Loranger said he didn't know if an &#8220adaptive management position” was possible.

Congressman Dave Reichart's office reported $600,000 was added to the U.S. House of Representative's Energy ad Water Development Appropriations bill for the design cost of a new diversion or barrier dam on the White River near Buckley. The fish trap and dam operation received $903,000.

The bill has not passed he U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has estimated a new diversion dam will cost $15 million to $20 million.

The sale of the lake to Cascade Water Alliance continues to move forward.

Cascade will pay $10 million to Puget Sound Energy, owners of the reservoir, dam and flume system, prior to re-issuance of the water rights by the Department of Ecology and an additional $27 million once the rights are cleared.

A top concern of the residents of the Tapps community is flow and level of water.

&#8220The devil is in the details,” Bunney said. &#8220We need to have a drought-year strategy that is pre-thought out, not under the fire of crises.”

When the dam was damaged in December 2004 and repaired in March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration increased the flow rates from White River through the Buckley diversion dam.

NOAA is charged with protecting Chinook salmon, an endangered species. Their argument is when water flows drop in the river, the temperature rises threatening the fish.

&#8220This is about where we swim, where our kids swim and our legal obligation,” Bunney said. &#8220We need to both protect fish and make sure our lifestyles are not degraded.”