UPPER COUNTY – Kittitas County commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to appoint eight members to a committee that will oversee the carrying out of an Upper County groundwater study.

Presenting the names to commissioners was Cathy Bambrick, administrator of the county Public Health Department. She said the  make up of the committee has been jointly agreed upon with the state Department of Ecology.

Bambrick said it is important to both the county and the Ecology Department to select the majority of the members with strong scientific backgrounds while allowing a few members to provide a community perspective.

Three members have yet to be selected: a representative of the Yakama Nation, a hired hydrogeologist representing Kittitas County government and an Upper County community member.

Commissioner Alan Crankovich, after the Tuesday meeting, said he wants to make sure the appointment of a citizen at-large from Upper County will reflect a “balanced mix” of interests.

“I don’t want some on the committee, whether in reality or in perception, to seem to weight the committee in one direction or the other,” Crankovich said.

Members appointed Tuesday were: Ecology Department hydrogeologist and engineering geologist Tom Mackie; Holly Myers, county director of the Environmental Health Division; Winston Norrish, adjunct professor at Central Washington University; CWU professor Carey Gazis; Steve Balew of Tumwater Drilling & Pump, Leavenworth; Anna Lael, manager of the Kittitas County Conservation District; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation hydrogeologist Kayti Didricksen; and Urban Eberhart, chairman of the Kittitas Reclamation District and president of the Kittitas County Farm Bureau.

Commissioner Linda Huber later added information about Eberhart, indicating his involvement, since 1986, with the Yakima River Basin enhancement project, the basin watershed council and taking part in several basin water policy and planning groups.

The formation of the committee is called for in an April 7 memorandum of agreement, or MOA, between the county and the Ecology Department.

The MOA was formed after the state recognized problems with the proliferation of exempt wells in Upper County, yet rejected a call from the citizen advocacy group Aqua Permanente for a countywide moratorium on well drilling until a groundwater study is completed.

The MOA outlines restrictions on the use of exempt wells in Upper County for housing developments until the results of the three-year groundwater study give officials a better understanding of the condition of the Upper County aquifer.

The groundwater study committee, Bambrick noted, will provide input concerning the scope and implementation of the study as well as provide recommendations concerning the development of a long-term groundwater management program in Upper County.