Water Watch: Drought well program launched in Yakima Basin

Irrigators can learn about emergency drought permits at July 11 workshop

Naches River is running low as it flows to its confluence with the Yakima River (Photo by Eiko Urmos-Beery 2019)

In light of current water conditions in the Yakima River Basin, Ecology is launching a drought well relief program to assist  junior irrigators in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Yakima Project who are receiving less than 70 percent of their normal water supply.

A workshop is set for 2-5 p.m. on July 11, 2019, at our Central Regional Office, 1250 W. Alder St., Union Gap, for irrigators who have or are considering applying for emergency drought permits this irrigation season.

Irrigators will learn under what conditions emergency groundwater permits may be authorized, and about this drought year’s cost-sharing program. Impacts of groundwater pumping to the aquifer must be offset through the purchase of mitigation water, to protect senior water users.

Under the state's drought relief program, the groundwater applicant and the state share in the cost to obtain mitigation water. Applicants will be required to pay $500 per acre feet of water authorized.

“We will also have time for questions, and will provide information on well construction, water measuring and reporting requirements, as well as other options that might be available to those needing emergency water,” explained Trevor Hutton, Ecology’s water resources manager in Union Gap.

Program designed for irrigators whose water is rationed

Now that the Bureau of Reclamation forecasts that pro-ratable water users will receive only 67 percent of their normal water supply, we can begin considering emergency drought groundwater applications.

In the Yakima River Basin, project irrigators with junior water rights, including the Kittitas and Roza districts, have agreed to live with 70 percent of their normal water supply without tapping into drought wells under goals of the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan. This is to protect groundwater and senior water rights, including rights held by the Yakama Nation.

Drought was declared in the Upper Yakima Basin on April 4, 2019, and drought was declared for the rest of the three-county watershed on May 20, 2019. State drought declarations may be made when the projected water supply dips to 75 percent of normal and watersheds are deemed to be at risk of suffering hardships.

Water users may also apply for expedited water-right transfers negotiated between willing private parties the drought declaration, and other non-project emergency well permits must bring proposed mitigation for consideration in the Yakima River Basin. 

Other Central Washington drought tidbits

• Oroville-Tonasket Irrigation District is fallowing 1,800 acres of land this irrigation season and making water available to other farmers who may be facing a shortfall or are shutoff this summer. The district has 5,600 acre-feet of water that is available to lease. About 100 water users on the Okanogan and Similkameen rivers in Okanogan County have been shut off due to low streamflows and the lack of snowmelt runoff from Canada. Learn more at the OTID water bank website. 
• Kittitas County will be holding a public auction to lease county water rights to eligible bidders at 10 a.m. on July 9 in the Board of County Commissioner’s auditorium at 205 W 5th Avenue in Ellensburg. Staff will auction 25 (twenty five) acre-foot blocks of water at a minimum bid price of $240 per acre-foot. Irrigators interested in bidding must complete an eligibility review as described in the public notice. 
• People who have questions about drought response in Chelan, Kittitas, Okanogan, Yakima and Benton counties may contact our customer service line at 509-575-2490.

More drought information is found online.

By Joye Redfield-Wilder, Central Region communications

Proposed amendments of University Place shoreline plan ready for public input

University Place’s proposed update to its Shoreline Master Program is ready for public comment now through Sept. 1, 2016. The proposed amendment provides consistency with the Growth Management Act’s mandate that local governments use the best available science in their critical areas ordinances. This type of amendment is not unusual.

What’s a Shoreline Master Program?

Shoreline Master Programs are local plans developed by cities and counties to manage shoreline use. These local programs protect natural resources for future generations, provide for public access to public waters and shores, and plan for shoreline uses and development.

University Place’s shoreline plan

University Place’s new amendments are related to wetland buffers and mitigation, as well as geological hazardous areas and their associated buffers. 

To schedule a time to read paper copies of the proposal, contact the City of University Place, or contact Ecology Regional Planner Michelle McConnell at the address below.

All comments should be sent to Michelle McConnell. There are four ways to do it:

By email:             michelle.mcconnell@ecy.wa.gov

By mail:               Southwest Regional Office

                             PO Box 47775

                             Olympia, WA 98504-7600

In person:            300 Desmond Drive

                              Lacey, WA 98503

By phone:            360-407-6349

Ecology must receive comments no later than 5 p.m. Sept. 1, 2016.

Comment summaries and the city’s response will be posted to the University Place Shoreline Master Program page on Ecology’s website.

By: Dave Bennett, Southwest Region communications manager

State debates extending drought declaration

By Dan Partridge, communications manager, Water Resources Program 

If you look out your window in Western Washington, see the rain pouring in the street or the flooding in your neighborhood, it’s a no brainer: our historic drought must be over.

But it is a different picture east of the Cascades, which remains in extreme or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Map shows most river basins in the state below 75 percent of average snowpack.
A water supply of 75 percent or below is one threshold that must be met before an area 

can be considered for a drought declaration.

The Drought Monitor uses different criteria for determining the severity of a drought – such as soil moisture – than we do at Ecology because our criteria is set in law. The monitor, however, is one of several tools state agencies use in determining where and when to declare a drought emergency and when to lift that declaration.

A drought emergency declaration is important because the law requires that we issue one before we can commit any state funds to drought relief projects.  This year Ecology has spent or committed almost $5.6 million of $16 million allocated for drought relief projects by the Legislature for use over two years. Those projects include repair and replacement of failing wells in communities across the state and improving water delivery systems for irrigation districts.

This week Ecology’s Water Supply Availability Committee (WSAC) met to debate the future of the statewide drought declaration, which expires Dec. 31. WSAC is composed of state and federal agencies that monitor state water supplies. Committee members shared information on snowpack accumulations and stream flows, temperature and precipitation forecasts for the winter.

Current water supplies and anticipated hardships must be considered 

Determining if the drought declaration should be extended, at least in certain areas of the state, is more complicated than it might seem.

    

State law allows Ecology to declare a drought emergency if a geographical area is experiencing or is projected to experience a water supply that is below 75 percent of normal and water users in that area will likely incur hardships from a water shortage.

Snowpack that accumulates over the winter and then melts slowly over the spring and summer provides the run-off that is the primary water supply for most of our rivers and streams.  In this year’s “snowpack” drought, snowpack accumulations were way below normal, and higher than normal temperatures pretty much melted what snowpack we had before the first of June.

As we approach the holidays, an El Nino weather pattern is expected to bring warmer than normal temperatures and below normal snowpack over the winter. Our average statewide snowpack is 56 percent of normal, compared to 49 percent of normal at this time last year. Conditions and forecasts similar to those at this time last year produced our statewide drought.

Decision important to agriculture and the state economy 

Making the right decision on extending our drought declaration is particularly important to the agricultural industry, which contributes $10 billion annually to the state economy. This year irrigation districts cut back water allotments to farmers in the Yakima basin, our most productive agricultural region, and water shortages statewide resulted in millions of dollars in crop losses.  Ecology is preparing to help farmers avoid another year of extensive crop losses and if, when and where the drought declaration is extended will make a difference in providing drought relief.

The decision on extending our drought declaration will be decided by Gov. Inslee. He will be advised next week by his Cabinet-level Executive Water Emergency Committee working from this week’s WSAC reports.   

Snowpack and drought conditions worsen in Washington

By Dan Partridge, communications manager, Water Resources Program

More than a foot of snow in the Cascades this week was a sight for sore eyes. Sadly though, it won’t do much to help our record-low snowpack or stave off the impending drought.

Snow on the mountain passes didn't change our drought
 picture in Washington

Snowpack and drought conditions have only worsened since the Governor declared a drought for three regions of the state March 13. And as the snowpack continues to dwindle, more regions of the state are likely to be declared in a drought.
 

Snowpack drops to 20% of normal

Over the past three weeks, snowpack has dropped to about 20 percent of normal statewide. In a normal year, late March and early April are typically when we reach the peak of our snowpack, not scrapping the bottom of the barrel.

We are so far behind that we need a whopping 5,000 percent of average snowfall in April to recover from our record shortfall!

View larger image

Snowpack critical to water supplies

Snowpack is critical to our water supplies in many river basins of the state, providing a frozen reservoir during the winter that feeds our rivers and streams in the spring and summer as it melts.

3% of normal in the Olympics

Snowpack in the Olympic mountains is teetering around just 3 percent of normal. For perspective, at Hurricane Ridge there are 12 inches of snow right now, when typically we would have 109 inches.

6% to 24% of normal in the Cascades

Snowpack ranges anywhere from 5 percent to 42 percent of normal in the Cascade mountains. For perspective, at Paradise there are 49 inches of snow right now, when typically we would have 176 inches.

59% of normal in Walla Walla

Snowpack is 57 percent of normal in the Walla Walla Basin.

Current drought regions

• The Olympic Peninsula, primarily in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
• The East side of the Central Cascades including Yakima and Wenatchee.
• The Walla Walla Basin.

Regions potentially at risk for drought

We’re working closely with communities, irrigation districts, local governments and legislative districts across the state to gather water supply information to assess where additional drought declarations may occur. Areas of concern include:

• The Squilchuck Basin in Eastern Washington
• Klickitat County, including the towns of White Salmon and Glenwood
• The Okanogan Tonasket Irrigation District
• In Mason and Jefferson counties, the Skokomish, Hamma Hamma, Dosewallips and Duckabush basins

Next week our Water Supply Availability Committee, comprised of our partner agencies in drought response, will look at water supply concerns in parts of Washington not currently under a drought declaration. The committee will review snowpack conditions in these areas and others and discuss long-term weather forecasts, summer stream-flow projections, and water supply needs. Then we’ll consider convening another water committee, the Emergency Water Executive Committee, that makes recommendations to the governor on drought declarations.

Why drought declarations are important

Drought declarations are important in that they qualify water users for emergency assistance. This opens the door to money and technical assistance from Ecology for leasing water rights, drilling new wells, deepening existing ones, laying pipes and installing pumps to move water from one location to another.

Asked for $9 million from the Legislature

We have asked the Legislature for $9 million in emergency funding. While we’re waiting for that to be approved, we have started spending existing funds to lease water rights to boost stream flows in the tributaries of the Yakima River.

Searching for water in the Yakima Basin

Much of our drought response so far has been in the Yakima Basin. It’s our richest agricultural region in the state. We’re hosting workshops next week in Yakima and Cle Elum to explain how farmers can get paid for forgoing their senior water diversions and not planting a crop during the 2015 irrigation season. Those include hay farmers and other annual growers.

On Monday, the Bureau of Reclamation will announce its second Water Supply Forecast of the irrigation season. In March, the bureau said holders of senior water rights in the Yakima Basin would get their full allocations of irrigation water but “junior” water right holders would receive only 73 percent of their supplies. Based on what we are hearing, we expect a further drop in junior water supplies.

Ecology has been anticipating the drop. Later in the irrigation season, we are proposing spending as much as $4 million of drought funding to help pay for temporary water right transfers from senior to junior water right holders boosting the water allocations for those junior irrigators.

We’re doing everything we can to stay on top of the declining snowpack and impending drought conditions. While public water districts so far are not anticipating problems with municipal water supplies in 2015. it’s going to be a thirsty year for crops and fish. We’re reaching out to farmers and fish hatcheries and our partner agencies in drought response to identify and help relieve hardships early on in our snowpack drought.

Washington Drought 2015: State needs 1,365 percent of normal snowfall to avoid water shortages

By Dan Partridge,  Communications Manager, Water Resources Program 

 Record rains over the weekend in Western Washington left some asking, “Where is the drought we are hearing about in the news?”

 It’s good to see the rain in times of drought but Gov. Jay Inslee’s drought declarations last week were not for most of Western Washington and not about a lack of rain.

The governor declared a drought on the east side of Central Cascades including Yakima and Wenatchee, the Walla Walla region and the Olympic Peninsula.  

Current snowpack at 26 percent of average    
Ecology Director Maia Bellon has called it a “snowpack drought” because statewide our snowpack is only 26 percent of average.
Snowpack is like a frozen reservoir that in a typical year accumulates over the winter and then in the spring and summer melts slowly and runs off into our rivers and streams providing water for people, farms and fish.

Snowpack actually bumped up a bit over the weekend in the Olympic Mountains from 4 to 11 percent, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service.  Even with that, the NRCS estimates that more than 1,365 percent of normal snowfall would have to fall in the Olympics and elsewhere to bring our snowpack up to normal by early April. That’s usually the peak time of snowpack accumulations.

Drought conditions likely to get worse
The drought conditions that prompted the governor’s announcement on Friday are unlikely to improve because continued persistence of warmer than normal temperatures is expected through spring.

Ecology working to provide drought relief

Ecology has applied to the Legislature for $9 million in drought relief funds to help alleviate hardships occurring because of water shortages. You can track our work at  Washington Drought 2015