The Dungeness Water Rule: What It Means for a New Well Near Sequim

Why the Dungeness watershed has its own water rule

The Dungeness River and its watershed, running from the Olympic Mountains down through the Sequim area to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, support salmon runs that depend on maintaining adequate instream flow -- a genuine tension with the area's ordinary residential growth, which historically relied on new domestic wells under Washington's permit-exempt-well exception (RCW 90.44.050, covered in the state hub). Rather than leaving this to the statewide framework alone, Clallam County, the city of Sequim, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, the Washington Department of Ecology, and other stakeholders worked through a lengthy public process to develop a locally specific rule -- the Dungeness Water Rule -- aimed at protecting the river's flow for salmon and other instream values while still allowing new residential development to proceed on a defined, mitigated basis rather than an outright building moratorium.

What mitigation actually requires

Within the Rule Area, new water uses drawing from wells -- including most Group B water systems (small shared systems serving a handful of connections) -- require documented mitigation before the county will issue a building permit or approve a land division. In practice, this means a property owner or developer typically needs to secure a mitigation credit, commonly through a water exchange or bank mechanism established as part of the rule, and provide proof of that mitigation to the county as part of the permit application. Notably, mitigation is not required for projects served by certain Group A water systems (larger, more heavily regulated public water systems) -- so a parcel's specific water-source plan changes what's required, not just its location within the Rule Area.

Separately, but relevant to any parcel actually along the river itself, the Dungeness River carries a documented minimum shoreline buffer of 75 feet under county code -- a real, specific setback distinct from the water-mitigation requirement, covering how close a structure can sit to the river regardless of the water-source question.

What this means for evaluating a parcel here

1. Confirm directly with Clallam County whether a specific parcel falls within the Dungeness Water Rule Area -- the county maintains a GIS map of the Rule Area boundary specifically for this purpose.
2. If it does, and the parcel would rely on a new well or a Group B water system, ask the county what mitigation options exist and what proof will be required before a building permit or short plat can be approved -- budget both time and cost for this step rather than treating a new well as a simple, standard permit.
3. If the parcel would instead be served by an existing Group A water system connection, confirm directly whether that specific system is exempt from the mitigation requirement, since not all Group A systems necessarily qualify.
4. For any parcel actually adjacent to the Dungeness River, separately confirm the applicable shoreline buffer (the 75-foot figure is a documented example, not necessarily universal to every reach of the river) before assuming a specific building envelope is available.