If you have water rights in the Nooksack Basin and haven't filed your WRIA 1 claim form yet, Whatcom County Public Works is offering another in-person help session on Tuesday, June 9 at the Van Zandt Community Center (4106 Valley Hwy, Deming). One-hour appointments are available by calling 360-778-6314, and walk-ins are welcome between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The claim forms themselves are due exactly one year from June 1, 2026, on June 1, 2027.
The Water Resource Inventory Area 1, or WRIA 1, covers the Nooksack River watershed and adjacent coastal streams in Whatcom County. Washington State opened a water rights adjudication for this basin, which means all existing water rights claims must be formally registered by the deadline. The adjudication is a legal process that will ultimately establish who holds valid water rights, how much they are entitled to use, and what their priority date is relative to other users. In a watershed that has faced mounting tension between agricultural, residential, tribal, and instream flow needs, the outcome of this process will shape water management in Whatcom County for generations.
The filing requirement applies to anyone who currently uses water from a WRIA 1 water source under a claim of right, including many rural property owners on wells, irrigation users, and small farms. Not filing does not mean giving up water rights, but it can complicate the legal standing of those rights and make them harder to defend if disputes arise later. The county has been holding help sessions throughout the filing window to ensure that rural landowners, many of whom may not have legal representation, can navigate the forms correctly.
The June 9 session in Deming is well-situated for residents in the upper Nooksack Valley, including the Van Zandt, Acme, and Deming communities. These areas include a mix of small farms, hobby properties, and residential lots that rely on surface or groundwater from the Nooksack system. Staff from Whatcom County Public Works will be on hand to walk attendees through the claim form, answer questions, and help ensure submissions are complete.
To reserve a one-hour appointment, call 360-778-6314 before June 9. Walk-ins during the 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. window are also welcome, though appointment holders will be seen first. Additional information about the adjudication process and how to file is available at whatcomcounty.us. The WRIA 1 Salmon Recovery Plan website also provides broader context on how water allocation connects to salmon habitat restoration in the watershed.
There is still a full year before the June 1, 2027 claim deadline, but help sessions like this one will not be available indefinitely. Landowners who are uncertain whether they need to file should attend or call the county to ask. For context on the broader salmon recovery work happening alongside the adjudication, see today's coverage of Wild Salmon Day and the collaborative restoration effort underway across the Nooksack Basin.