Van Ness Feldman serves as general legal counsel to Cascade Water Alliance, a municipal corporation comprised of seven municipalities (five cities and two water and sewer districts) in the Puget Sound region that joined together to provide safe, clean, reliable water supply. We have assisted Cascade in meeting the challenges of a non-traditional public entity operating under the requirements of a public agency. With our assistance, Cascade acquired the White River-Lake Tapps Reservoir Project for future water supply and now operates the project under a complex system of federal, tribal, and local agreements and overlapping regulatory jurisdictions. Van Ness Feldman also assisted Cascade with acquiring rights for a proposed pipeline corridor to carry water purchased from the City of Tacoma.

Cascade operates under a complex system of federal, tribal, and local agreements and overlapping regulatory jurisdictions. Van Ness Feldman provides strategic advice and permitting support for compliance with the federal Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and state and local water quality and wetland regulations in the context of its work to maintain and repair diversion facilities, hundreds of miles of flumes, dikes surrounding Lake Tapps, and a century-old powerhouse facility.