SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The Washington state Department of Ecology has fined Skagit Valley Farm $267,000 for irrigating 348 acres without having water rights.
The crops unlawfully irrigated in 2021 were in the lower Skagit and Samish watersheds, according to a news release from the agency, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.
“The violations occurred during a drought and on the heels of a historic heat wave in a watershed where low stream flows threaten endangered salmon species,” Ria Berns, northwest regional manager for Ecology’s water resource program, said in the release.
Irrigating fields without water rights hurts farmers who comply with water rights laws and salmon that need stream flows to be at a certain level, she said.