New regional Ecology director David Bowen focused on water issues and more

David Bowen, a longtime player in Central Washington politics and government, is the new director of the Washington State Department of Ecology’s Central Region Office.

The region covers seven counties in Washington including Yakima and Kittitas counties. In his new role, Bowen will be charged with overseeing Ecology’s environmental projects in the area and managing relationships with other agencies, community stakeholders and tribes.

Before his appointment, Bowen served as Ecology’s nuclear waste program manager at the Hanford site. He was as a Kittitas County commissioner from 2001 to 2008.

A lifelong resident of Central Washington, Bowen said he’s looking forward to revisiting topics he focused on in past positions like the development of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. The plan calls for building more water storage capacity and fish passage at the region's reservoirs, along with investments in water conservation and habitat protection.

He also mentioned addressing water quality and contamination issues in the Yakima Valley as a priority.

The Yakima Herald-Republic sat down with Bowen and talked about what he wants to achieve in his new position and how he hopes to do it. His interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What are your day one priorities?

There’s a lot of them, actually. There are issues that everybody knows are going on in the region, whether it’s the Lower Yakima Valley GWMA (Groundwater Management Area) or whether it's the training center and PFAS or landfills that might be on fire.

There are also water quality issues. I came from a water quality (background), I was there for five years before I left and now I’m looking forward to supporting that. The Yakima Basin Integrated Plan is also really important to me. I’ve been on the fringes of that for I don’t know, about 15 years now in different capacities.

There is also building relationships. I know a lot of people but I need to re-engage. Whether it’s the tribal folks or state and local governments and the interest groups that are interested in the work we’re doing, both thinking we’re going too far or that we’re not going far enough.

It’ll be interesting to hear everyone’s perspectives.

You’ve worked and lived in Central Washington for most of your life. What have you learned about the region in that time that makes you qualified for this position?

I’ve been a countywide elected official for seven years of my life. I’ve owned small businesses and worked for corporations. I’ve worked on conservation projects and in renewable energy. So all of those things.

Agriculture and water, right now obviously those are huge, along with municipal water supplies.

My interest when I was a (Kittitas) county commissioner was the water (availability) issue and making sure we had water for future generations. Whether it was for fish and streams or municipalities and agriculture. Having a chance to continue that work and help in that area is huge for me.

I’m going to have to learn about air quality and what’s going on there. It’s not something I got into a lot, but I know we have several communities within our region that need some attention and we’ve put more monitoring out for those. So I need to learn more about what’s been going on there.

Significant steps have been taken in the last two years to get the Lower Yakima Valley GWMA’s plans back on track after the pandemic, including a new round of well water testing and filter/drinking water distribution. How do you plan to keep that momentum going?

There’s going to be obviously some need to work with the Legislature to get additional funding for the area. The Department of Health and the Yakima Health District are pretty much taking the lead on most of that right now.

Our program is still monitoring all those 170 plus wells that are out on site and it’s going to be important to tell the story.

It’s an unfortunate situation, but the EPA’s intervention will help with telling the story about why those funds are needed. It’s also really unfortunate that momentum got lost as we went into the pandemic.

We had some things in the budget even then that ended up being line vetoed because of the pandemic and it took a while to get that back on track. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t seen all the details but I’m looking forward to working on it.

The PFAS groundwater contamination will be an issue in East Selah for years to come. What can Ecology do to keep residents safe?

PFAS is a nationwide issue right now. The Hazardous Waste and Toxic Reduction (an Ecology program) is taking the lead on that.

I participated a little bit when I covered for this position last summer. What I understand is you can pull out the water, you can treat it for PFAS but then there’s not really a good way to dispose of the PFAS once you’ve got it back. So the long-term disposal is obviously a huge issue.

Making sure that we get appropriate drinking water and potable water for the folks in the area that are impacted is a critical issue, and it sounds like that’s on a good path moving forward.

We need to continue that relationship with the training center and the Department of Defense, making sure that this stays on their radar, and keeping that communication going is going to be a priority.

What is the next step for Ecology in regard to the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan?

I’ve been out of the loop on that for a little bit but I know they’re looking at a land acquisition up in Kittitas County and it sounds like it’s a partnership that’s going to include some water storage and county engagement for some agriculture, and I think Fish and Wildlife will help with some wildlife corridors. It’s a really cool project. I don’t have all the details on it.

There is also Bateman Island down out the south, they’re trying to remove the causeway and get the natural flow going through where the levee came across there. I also know KRD (Kittitas Reclamation District) is continuing to work on projects like piping some of their canals to save water. They’re also injecting water into some of the streams that end up with lower flows later in the summer to keep that water flowing. I’ll be supportive of that, of course.

Why did you apply for your new position?

I almost didn’t apply because I love what I’m doing down in Hanford with the nuclear waste program. That is just a huge project that is interesting, and relationships are key with the Department of Energy, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the Washington Department of Health, the county and then our delegation in (Washington) D.C.

I love the delegation work. I love working on those things and putting the pieces together to solve that problem.

I've tried the corporate world, I've tried managing businesses but I've been in and out of public service over the last 20 years and it's really where my heart is at. 

But I’ll be honest. Personally, I’ve got a new grandchild that came this year, I’ve got a grandchild coming, I’ve got a daughter who is getting married and my father passed away last June so my mom is by herself up in Ellensburg and it's the first time in 63 years that she’s been on her own so I wanted to be closer for family as well.

My reasoning for it was to reengage with all these other topics we just talked about but also to be closer to my family and be ready to support them too.

What would you like to achieve in your new position before leaving?

You can’t resolve things you’re not talking about. So if I walk away from here having built strong relationships with local elected officials, community stakeholders and the tribes and have that set up in a fashion so that it’ll continue after I’m gone, that will be a huge success.

On top of that, I want to make advancements in the Lower Yakima Valley GWMA and in Mabton. Both of those are huge in my mind.

In the long term, the preservation of water supply and water quality for the Yakima Basin under the YBIP program.