Washington
Farmers say proposed drinking water requirements would drive up costs • Washington State Standard
The state Department of Health is considering an update to how it exempts small farms from some drinking water requirements.
The department says it’s a simple fix to outdated and inaccurate language to what’s known as the “same farm exemption,” but farmers say the changes could be costly and burdensome – especially for farms with onsite housing for employees.
Under a 1995 state law, water systems with four or fewer connections, serving residences on the same farm and providing water to fewer than 25 people a day are excluded from some regulatory requirements that larger public water systems face.
The updated language would require those exempt farms to reapply every five years for the exemption. If at any point, the farms didn’t qualify, the Department of Health would have the authority to take away the exemption.
Jay Gordon, at the Washington State Dairy Federation, said proving that they fit the requirements every year could be expensive, unnecessary and go against what the Legislature intended when setting up the exemption in state law.
“We don’t actually know what’s going to be required as every well is somewhat different,” Gordon said. “But you’re asking a lot of people to prove they’re exempt from something that the Legislature already says they’re exempt from.”
Gordon said the changes could have broad financial implications on small farms that are already struggling. Testing water and reapplying could cost thousands of dollars, he said.
If a farmer owns multiple rentals on their property that they use to house workers temporarily, they’ll have to follow the new application process, Gordon said.
“Either the farmer eats that money or passes it off to employees or tenants,” Gordon said.
Roberto Bonaccorso, spokesman for the Department of Health, said the only change to current policy is requiring the five-year approval for the exemption, which allows the state to maintain safe and reliable drinking water for the employees of agricultural entities.
The five-year application would be similar to what businesses complete in a water facilities inventory form, which requires them to state their water system’s source and treatment as well as the number of connections it uses, Bonaccorso wrote in an email.
The department is proposing the change following a request from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study unregulated public water systems in the lower Yakima valley, Bonaccorso said.
Some of those farms were claiming a same farm exemption, despite being a larger facility than what the exemption allows, in part because of the 1995 law, which the department said was unclear and needed to be updated. “This misunderstanding caused DOH to review the policy and update to clarify its implementation,” he added.
In a June letter to the Department of Health, Yakima County’s public services director Lisa Freund wrote that the department should keep local governments and their regulations in mind when finalizing the rule. Counties are the ones who have to implement the rules, Freund wrote, and the water monitoring standards vary across them.
There is a public comment period open through Aug. 26. Ben Tindall, executive director at Save Family Farming, said the department has been responsive to some of their concerns so far.
But there are still questions surrounding the cost of this change, how many people it could affect and why the change is being made, Tindall said.
“This is very much a step in the wrong direction, and it’s going to damage farms throughout the state,” Tindall said.
Gordon said another concern is that the department does not have the authority to change this policy in the way that they are doing it. He said the department should either go through a formal rulemaking process or leave it up to the Legislature to change the exemptions process as they are the ones who made the law in the first place.
“They’re proposing pretty broad changes, and we certainly don’t think they have the legal authority to do this,” Gordon said. “At a high level, this is really bad governance.”
Bonaccorso wrote that there has been a discussion about requesting legislation but that a policy update can be done in a shorter time frame and implemented accurately to address the concerns regarding unregulated public water systems.
“It is common to update internal policies,” he said.
Following the public comment period, the department will review the feedback and consider making changes to the draft policy, which will then be updated on their website. There is no timeline for implementation yet.
ASHBURN, Va. – The Washington Commanders have released their 2026 Training Camp schedule, with eleven open practices between August 1 and August 19, including five open to all fans and six reserved for season ticket members.
For the fifth straight year, training camp will take place at the team’s football operations headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia.
Open practices for all fans are scheduled for August 1, August 7, August 8, August 18 and August 19.
Season ticket member practices will be held August 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12.
All sessions begin at 8:30 a.m., with gates opening at 7:30 a.m.
Fans can claim free tickets beginning June 23 at 10 a.m. General admission fans may request up to six tickets and one parking pass for a single day of camp. Season ticket members can claim tickets for two member‑exclusive days in addition to one general admission day. All parking will be on site at the BigBear.ai Performance Center and requires a parking pass.
The team plans several themed events throughout camp, including Back Together Weekend on August 1, Military Appreciation Day on August 7 and Kids Day on August 8. Local youth football and community groups will also be hosted throughout the summer.
For more information visit the Washington Commanders online.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Washington Commanders.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Washington’s National Mall is set to be drained again for repairs after algae and peeling paint appeared just weeks after a US$14.7 million renovation, while President Donald Trump threatened prison time for anyone caught damaging the pool.
The DC Water authority issued a permit to drain the 609-metre rectangular pool, it said on Monday, while the repair company said it would fix the pool as part of its warranty.
Peeling paint and algae growth have been visible in the pool since soon after Trump declared the renovation project complete on June 6. Critics have raised concerns about the no-bid contract to recoat the pool before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations next month, as well as for the ducks that use its water. Workers from the National Park Service earlier this week poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool to combat the algae.
Trump, without evidence, has blamed vandals for the state of the landmark. On Monday, he echoed a weekend threat by US Attorney Jeanine Pirro to prosecute people accused of attempting to destroy the pool.
“Please remember that there is a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” Trump earlier wrote in a social media post. Destruction of federal property can carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
It was not immediately apparent what criminal or civil violation someone might commit reaching into the pool.
Half a year can be an eternity in the NBA.
Seven months ago, as Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks headed toward a divorce, Young’s value within the league had never been lower.
On Monday, Young and the Washington Wizards agreed to a new four-year, maximum-salary contract worth approximately $212.9 million, according to a league source. The fourth year of the contract will be a player option.
Young’s first-year salary is estimated to be $49.5 million, which amounts to 30 percent of the projected 2026-27 salary cap of $165 million. During the 2029-30 season, the final year of the contract, Young will earn $56.9 million if he accepts his player option.
Wizards officials would love it, of course, if Young can return to the form that made him an All-NBA Third Team player during the 2021-22 season. But at the very least, they place significant value on knowing that their team’s offense will start with him on most occasions, and that he will be around to shoulder a large portion of the scoring load while the team’s young players, who comprise the team’s long-term nucleus, continue to improve.
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That Young will receive such large annual salaries no doubt will come as a shock to many observers, especially after Young’s reputation took a beating toward the end of his Hawks tenure. The NBA rumor mill, which is often inaccurate, predicted months ago that any new deal between Young and the Wizards would average no more than $40 million annually.
But in recent weeks, Wizards decision-makers became convinced that, with the NBA’s new anti-tanking measures compelling more teams to compete, Young was going to command maximum-salary contract offers from other franchises through either a straight free-agent signing or a sign-and-trade proposal.
Because the Wizards hold Young’s Bird rights, the Wizards had the latitude to offer Young up to a five-year contract with 8 percent annual raises. But Young’s new four-year deal instead features 5 percent year-over-year raises, the maximum year-over-year raise that any other team could have offered Young as a non-Bird free agent. For Washington, the difference between signing Young to 5 percent raises instead of 8 percent raises will amount to a total savings of $8.9 million over four years.
Wizards officials are not concerned that Young’s new contract will age poorly and prevent them from making future moves to improve their roster. Anthony Davis, who is due to earn $58.5 million in 2026-27, and Young are now Washington’s highest-paid players on its young roster, but the person with the third-largest salary is big man Alex Sarr, who will be paid the relatively small sum of $12.3 million this season. At the earliest, the Wizards do not expect to approach the dreaded first apron until the 2028-29 season, when any new rookie-scale contract extensions for Sarr and Kyshawn George would go into effect.
Plus, Wizards officials reason that Young, who will turn 28 years old in September, will remain in his prime years through the end of his contract. The onerous large contracts that age the worst — potentially Jimmy Butler’s current deal with the Golden State Warriors and Paul George’s current deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, for example — tend to be contracts in which players already are past their primes at the start of their contracts.
Young is by no means a perfect player. Undersized at 6 feet 1, and undeniably more focused on the offensive end of the floor, he tended to be a significant defensive liability throughout his Hawks tenure. That trend could worsen if he begins to lose a step (or two) over the next several years.
At the same time, though, Wizards officials have always known that their lineups would have to feature enough positional size and enough defensive-oriented players to compensate for Young’s shortcomings — in the same way that the defensive liabilities of LaMelo Ball, Jalen Brunson, Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and Donovan Mitchell (and others) are compensated for by their respective teams.
The Wizards’ decision-makers believe Davis and youngsters Bilal Coulibaly, Davis, George, Sarr and whomever they pick first overall in Tuesday night’s draft will develop into strong enough defenders to help Young.
Young appeared in only five games for Washington last season after his trade from Atlanta for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. That was a large enough sample size to demonstrate how his gravity and his passing skill could create open shots for his new teammates. George, Tre Johnson and others should receive more wide-open 3-point looks when Young directs the offense, and Sarr and Davis should feast on lobs from Young in pick-and-rolls.
Only 16 players in NBA history have averaged at least 20 points and 10 assists per game in the same season, according to Basketball Reference. Young is one of those players, and he has done it three times, during the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. The only other players who have had at least three seasons of at least 20 points and 10 assists per game are James Harden (four times), Kevin Johnson (three times), Magic Johnson (three times), Oscar Robertson (five times), Isiah Thomas (four times) and Russell Westbrook (five times).
The franchise expects Young to make Washington’s offense more efficient and, because opponents will have to take the ball out of their net more often, give Washington’s defense more opportunities to set itself.
July 6 is the first day when new free-agent contracts may be signed and made official.
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