But our partners in drought response are restoring streams in midst of drought
by Dan
Partridge, communications manager, Water Resources Program
It’s
official: the snowpack in Washington state is gone.
Statewide,
the average snowpack is zero percent
of normal. That’s right, you read that
correctly – zero.
Although
some snow remains at very high elevations -- and embedded in glaciers -- that
isn’t counted in the calculation of total snowpack. Compare zero percent of normal to some of the snowpack
figures from this time in 2014: 105
percent of normal on the Olympic
Peninsula, 138 percent of normal in North Puget Sound, 113 percent of normal in
the Lower Yakima and 175 percent of normal in the Spokane River Basin!
Early snowmelt leaves no runoff for rivers and streams
Snowpack is
the primary water supply for most of Washington’s rivers. In a normal year, snow accumulates over the
winter and then slowly melts in the spring and summer with the runoff feeding
our rivers and streams. This year,
because of the lack of snowpack over the winter and higher-than-normal
temperatures in late winter and spring, the early snowmelt means we will begin
summer with nothing left to run off.
The zero
snowpack is leading to equally concerning stream flow numbers: 84 percent of Washington’s rivers are flowing
below normal levels; 66 percent of rivers are at flow levels typically experienced
less than once a decade; and 27 percent of river flows are at all-time record
lows.
Communities
and irrigators pull water out of streams and rivers for water supplies, and
fish rely on streams for habitat. The
flows we are seeing the first half of June are what we would usually expect to
see in August.
An early success story in stream flow restoration
Although
stream flows are at risk, it is encouraging to know that federal and state
agencies and irrigation districts are working together to relieve hardships
from drought.
That
happened last week in Kittitas County
when the Kittitas Reclamation District (KRD) came to the rescue of Manastash
Creek.
KRD has
turned on siphons and water gates in its canals that provide flows to Manastash
Creek and five other upstream Yakima River tributaries. Under an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, Ecology, the Yakama Nation and in consultation with the state
Department of Fish & Wildlife, Yakima Project water is being routed through
KRD canals on its way to downstream diverters and passed through these small
creeks. It then flows back to the same river
it came from and it is available for diversions further down the Yakima River. This is being done in a manner that has no
impact on the total water supply and still improves flow, fish habitat and
vegetation lining creek banks.
 |
| Manastash Creek at Cove Road: On June 1, with depleted flow (left); and on June 11 with flow being restored. |
Water in canals transferred into streams
This action
is part of a drought mitigation strategy developed by Reclamation, Ecology and
the Yakama Nation to maintain stream health during a drought. The strategy is being implemented this year
because of improvements to KRD’s infrastructure made possible through the
Yakima Basin Integrated Plan and Ecology’s drought program -- paid for in part
with state funds -- that allow water in the canals to be transferred into
streams and then returned to the Yakima River.
Back in the river, the water travels downstream to irrigation customers
with no negative impact on their supplies from this rerouting.
This water
routing system is significantly improving flows in the Manastash. The creek had declined to flows of only three
or four cubic feet per second and was essentially dry where it crosses Cove
Road.
With a
summer forecast of warmer-than-normal temperatures and less-than-normal
rainfall, it’s likely we will see more streams in stress like Manastash Creek. Some small streams may even go dry. But it’s good to know that our strategies to
restore streams can be successful when we work together.
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