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Whatcom County blueberry farm fined $20K for illegal irrigation

Farm was also fined $12K in 2023 for same offence

A blueberry farm in the Lynden-Sumas area has been fined for the second straight year by the Washington State Department of Ecology for illegally irrigating about 40 acres.

RAN General Partnership and owner Rick Alamwala were issued a $20,000 fine, according to a Thursday, Oct. 17 news release by the Department of Ecology.

Alamwala was fined $12,000 in July 2023 for irrigating the same land, after Ecology had warned Alamwala in January 2022 that the property had no water rights.

“Alamwala ignored Ecology’s repeated attempts to gain voluntary compliance,” according to the news release. “Despite the penalty, Alamwala continued irrigating the properties throughout the 2024 irrigation season.”

The Nooksack Basin has had an instream flow rule since 1985, which is a water right for the river and determines how much water must be in the river before users can divert it. Junior water rights holders are often restricted due to low streamflows during the summer months, according to Ecology.

Ecology estimates that irrigating Alamwala’s properties requires more than 17 million gallons of water per year.

“Water is a precious resource for the Nooksack Basin in the summer, and non-permitted water use affects all aspects of our community — our people, our farms and our fish,” said Kasey Cykler, Northwest Region manager for Ecology’s Water Resources program.

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