I have shopped at Bi-Zi Farms for decades. The recent revelation that the state Department of Ecology has denied this farm the water rights needed to continue operating as a vital link in Clark County’s fresh food access has immediately raised some questions.
Why, if this legacy farm has been operating successfully on a well dug over a century ago, was the original water rights application, submitted in 2009, not acted on until 2020? What was the reason for the denial?
Why, after a successful appeal of the denial, has the state subsequently threatened legal action for continued use of the ground water?
The Zimmerman farm has been a fixture in Clark County since before Washington became a state. They have helped feed thousands of people using the water they are now being told they cannot use in the future. Why? Because, according to DOE, turning fertile, productive land into scalped land where bulldozers and pavers operate is a “better” use of the land than thousands of plants creating nutritious food and breathable oxygen? Just why?
