Some water users in Whatcom County, particularly longtime multigenerational family farms, have been using the same water source since before state law began requiring water rights.

Now that all water users in the county are being required to defend their water rights in court via the Washington Department of Ecology’s new water rights adjudication, those farms wouldn’t have been able to participate, putting their entire future in jeopardy through no fault of their own.

Bill Clarke, water rights attorney for the Ag Water Board of Whatcom County, joins Dillon with details on the state legislature’s recently-approved fix for the problem, breathing new hope into the future of some of the area’s oldest farms.