YAKIMA -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has hired a local mediator to try to find "areas of common ground" for resolving the Yakima Valley's ground water contamination problem.
The Dispute Resolution Center of Yakima and Kittitas Counties has agreed to contract with the EPA to conduct a "situation assessment," which is a series of interviews with different and often opposing interest groups affected by the ground water problem.
Thomas Eaton, director of EPA's Washington operations office in Seattle, said the effort could be useful to the county's recently announced plan to be the lead agency for a newly created Groundwater Management Area, a state-approved vehicle for managing the ground water in order to stop contamination.
He said the assessment could help provide guidelines for the decision-making body of a ground water management area and could create a way to involve the Yakama Nation. Many private wells on reservation lands are contaminated. The tribe banned new and expanding dairies and feedlots in 2008.
Matt Fairbank, executive director of the Dispute Resolution Center, will conduct the assessment.
Commissioners have been skeptical of EPA involvement in Yakima Valley water problems. But Vern Redifer, the county's director of public services, said the county doesn't object to the assessment.
"It's safe to say Yakima County does not see a downside in doing this. He's (Fairbank) basically going to be talking to stakeholders to get a sense of what the issues are," Redifer said.
The EPA has been working with the county and other state agencies over the past year to address the problems outlined in an October 2008 investigative series published by the Herald-Republic.
The stories documented the lack of government attention to a persistent ground water quality problem affecting thousands of low-income, mostly Latino residents who depend on private wells.
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