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.   

Rain barrels: I took the do-it-yourself challenge

by Sandra Partridge, Ecology communications

 

Imagine putting rain to work for you.

Rain barrels capture rainwater for use on your yard and garden. They allow you to divert the water to the parts of the yard that need it most, instead of it just pouring out of your downspout.

Preparing now makes sense

While your garden doesn’t need rain now, it is a good time to prepare for the next growing season.

Getting set up now will come in handy later, especially if our state experiences another drought.  When the weather turns warm, using free rainwater can reduce your monthly household watering bills.

The challenge

You can find rain barrels for sale at garden supply centers, hardware stores and building supply chains, or you can order them online, although some stores only offer them in the spring and summer.

I read that even someone with limited skills and basic tools can build a rain barrel for about half of full retail price or less so I decided to try it.

To get started, I searched “building rain barrels” online and found a number of helpful, short how-to videos, instructions and material lists. For step-by-step directions, you’ll want to research out the plans that most appeal to you.

Designs differ, but most rain barrels have these features:

• A 55-gallon plastic drum that is either new or only contained food quality materials.
• A large hole in top for the water to flow into, covered by a screen to keep out leaves and other debris. 
• A faucet or ball valve toward the bottom, where you’ll attach the garden hose.
• To keep the barrel from getting too full, some have an overflow hole, high up on one side. You can run a hose from that too, to direct excess water away from the house.
• A stable, elevated base. This helps ensure that a full, heavy barrel won’t tip over.

Patience pays - literally

The total cost of the project will depend on what materials and tools you have on hand.

Finding a suitable drum this time of year took some time. After visiting several stores, I finally found one at a garden supply center for about $40. If I had more time, I would have kept looking for alternatives – maybe a restaurant or car wash that was going to take a suitable drum to recycling.

I also needed to buy some basic supplies and equipment:  two hole saws (that attach to your drill), a PVC adapter, a ball valve (or faucet), and some small fittings. I got those, and helpful advice, from my local hardware store.

My total investment was nearly $100.  But now that I’m set up – and if I can find a low-cost barrel to start with – I should be able to build a second one for far less. 

It wasn’t that hard

The steps are pretty basic. 

For the inflow, I cut a large hole in the top of the barrel. Then I set a PVC adapter into the opening, covered it with a piece of fine wire mesh, and secured it in place with a hose clamp.

For the faucet, I cut a small hole a few inches from the bottom. Then I added a fitting, inserted the ball valve and connected the hose.

Mine has a removable lid, to make it easier to clean. Because I don’t have a table saw, I used a reciprocating saw to cut the lid off the barrel. For safety, I braced the barrel against something solid so it wouldn’t turn as I made the cuts.

Mine had a small overflow hole fitted with an adapter and a small hose, to keep any excess water away from the house.

Was it worth it?

Yes, yes and yes. That evening, the sound of rain brought a smile to my face.  I checked on my rain barrel the next morning and was surprised to find it was already several inches full.  Pretty satisfying to see that it all worked as it was supposed to.  Since we’re entering the winter season, I’ll empty it and store it away for now.  But when spring comes, watering with rain water will be a real pleasure. 

Extreme drought now in less than half of state

by Dan Partridge, communications manager, Water Resources Program


The rain came down in sheets over the weekend, pouring more than three inches of rain on Western Washington as measured at Sea-Tac Airport. Storms were intense and rivers swollen, leading many folks to ask: Is the statewide drought over?

The answer is no but the rain and snow did improve the drought picture considerably. Less than half the state is now in “extreme” drought and several areas of the state that were in “severe” drought have been upgraded to “moderate” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor .

The weekend storms dumped 19 inches of snow in the North Cascades, as measured by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Hart’s Pass received 15 inches of snow and Mount Rainer at Paradise received more than a foot of snow.

In a normal year, snowpack accumulates in our mountains over the winter and then runoff from melting snow feeds our rivers and streams through the spring, summer and fall. While the drought monitor report is encouraging, forecasters are concerned that much of the snow received last weekend will melt away before winter if the warm temperatures of October persist. The month was the second-warmest October on record for Washington.

The Yakima basin benefitted from the storms but the basin is still in that half of the state in extreme drought.

The basin is the most productive agricultural region in the state. The rain increased water storage in the five reservoirs managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for irrigation from 39 to 61 percent of average and the weekend storms brought the area up to 207 percent of its normal precipitation for the month of October.

“It was a very good rain over here,” said Chris Lynch, hydrologist and civil engineer with the Bureau.

For most of this year, however, water shortages have caused hardships in the Yakima basin and across the state. Record-low snowpack was found in the Yakima basin on April 1 and May 1, at 12 percent and 11 percent of average. Statewide, most of our snowpack was gone by the first of June. 

More water in irrigation reservoirs is good news for farmers who were cut back on their water allocations this year to 47 percent of normal, but there is still a significant deficit in water supplies for the Yakima Basin. The reservoirs are holding about 180,000 acre-feet of water (one acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water.) A year ago, the reservoirs were holding 385,000 acre-feet of water on Nov. 1, 2014, and the Yakima Basin was still one of the first regions of the state to be declared in a drought this year, on March 13, because of lack of snow.

If temperatures cool and significant snow begins to accumulate in the mountains, the picture may continue to improve for our statewide drought. However, predictions remain for a warmer-than-normal winter with below-normal snowpack. The El Nino weather pattern bringing those conditions is expected to be among the three warmest on record, dating back to 1950.

Water conservation activities for kids

Saving water is a family affair

by Lynne Geller, communications and outreach, Water Resources Program

Photo credit: Province of British Columbia

If there is one thing the 2015 drought is teaching us, it is not to take water for granted. (As of Oct. 20, 68% of our state is still in “extreme drought”.) Practicing water conservation every day, every year, just makes sense. Conserving simply means not wasting.

Why not make learning about water conservation enjoyable, for you and your family? The web has a wealth of free learning materials for kids of all ages. Spend some quality time with the kids in your life, learn some new things, and have some fun -- all at the same time. And along the way, understand more about the importance of water conservation and what you can do to save water.

Check out the Water Use It Wisely web pages. You will find interactive and downloadable games. You can go to the Tip Tank and learn water saving tips using a memory game of matching pictures (you may know the game as “Concentration”). Discover the role of water in our lives: Spin the earth to select a topic (for example, the water cycle, watersheds, using water wisely.) Then for each topic, there are games, quizzes and a video, plus other learning tools. Or have some fun testing your skill at saving raindrops, working against the clock.

WaterSense is a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is all about using water efficiently. You have probably seen the WaterSense label on products like showerheads and toilets – and even new single-family homes! WaterSense Kids provides some basic water use information and then you are tested in a challenging “Test Your WaterSense” interactive game. Help your kids take a water drop through a maze of water pipes and answer water use questions, while being careful to not to be gobbled up by Water Wasters.

Try your hand at Washing Machine Basketball and other interactive games at conserveh2o.org. The site also has downloadable activity books where you can connect-the-dots, find your way through mazes, color by number, find the picture that doesn’t belong – and be learning about water and water conservation at the same time. 

If you are feeling a little more ambitious, look at the materials developed by WaterSense for kids grades 3 through 5: WaterSense materials for elementary-level kids. There are two sets of learning materials, A Day in the Life of a Drop and Fix a Leak Week. The web has a great selection of materials for educators.

These links are just a start. Conserving water in the home isn’t hard – it’s just about learning some easy things to do, and then remembering to do them! Start today, and make it a family affair.

A new look for our yards: the Eco-lawn

by Kate Riley, Community Engagement Program Manager, Snohomish Conservation District

Micro-clover lawn (foreground)
with traditional lawn (towards the back)

Here is my prediction: within 10 years, Washingtonians will shift from their plain grass lawns to a new, Northwest landscape look that is aesthetic while requiring little water and maintenance. It is happening already, with many suburban landowners coming out of a summer of drought wondering what to do with their struggling lawn. Many are realizing one of the biggest myths of gardening: that lawn is easy to maintain. That is why we spend our precious weekend hours, billions of dollars, 30-60% of urban freshwater, and 10 times the amount of pesticide and fertilizers on lawns than farmers do on crops (source: EPA).

So, one option is to have less expectations of lawns, as we learned in an earlier blog in this series, Lawn care in a drought: brown is the new green. But the second option is to do something different, something that is truly low-maintenance and sustainable - the Eco-lawn. If you love the look of traditional turfgrass, and still need a walkable groundcover for children or pets, this is the alternative for you.    

 

A closer look at Eco-lawns
Eco-lawns are usually sown by seed in the fall or early spring, after the soil has been prepared. If you have existing lawn, you will need to remove it with a sod cutter, or through sheet-mulching - where you cover the grass with cardboard, compost, and mulch. If you have bare spots in your current lawn, you may also overseed with an eco-lawn mix.

Mature Fleur de Lawn

There are several different options for texture, color, mowing height, and even flowers in the seed mixes. A favorite choice popping up around our state is the Fleur de Lawn, developed at Oregon State University.

Most mixes stay green, self-fertilize, and require little mowing or water because of the addition of micro-clover. Clover is one of those powerhouse plants we have traditionally been fighting in our landscapes – but look at the results when we embrace it!

Next time you walk by to admire your neighbor’s green lawn, look closely! It may be nature doing the work. For more Sound Home ideas, check out BetterGround.org.

End of the Drought? I think Not!

by Mark Guthrie, Landscape Water Conservation Program Manager, Seattle Public Utilities

In Washington, when it rains, it often pours! But that hasn’t happened yet, and the drought is not over. We’ve had some rain, but Seattle’s reservoirs have not refilled, and there are predictions that the fall, winter, and next spring may be warmer and drier than normal. So keep conserving water! Conservation is important— and not just for drinking water from our reservoirs, but also for healthy fish habitat. Now is the time of year when salmon return and need higher river levels and stream flows to spawn successfully.

Here are some tips to help you conserve water in your landscape this fall and winter:

Stop watering

As temperatures become cooler and the days shorter, plants enter the initial phase of dormancy when no water is needed. This is the time to adjust your irrigation system for the cooler seasons.

• Fix leaky sprinkler heads and broken nozzles.
• Turn off your automatic irrigation timer.
• Before it freezes, turn off the water supply to your irrigation system, drain water (if possible), and insulate above-ground pipes.
• Remove the cup or bowl of your irrigation system’s rain sensor and place a cover over the remaining rain sensor.

Weed and mulch

After your fall clean-up and weeding, add a 2–3 inch layer of mulch to the soil surface. Arborist wood chips work best around woody plants and trees, while fall leaves or compost should go around perennials. Mulch helps protect plant roots during freezing weather. Mulch also helps reduce water evaporation, blocks weeds, prevents erosion by winter rains and feeds the soil. If next spring is warm and dry, your mulching will be much appreciated!

Water young trees efficiently

We’re getting some rain, but not quite enough for our trees, especially after the record hot, dry summer. Young trees planted within the last 5 years should still be watered once per week. Save our water and our trees by watering efficiently with a 15 or 20 gallon water bag.

  

Questions?

Contact the Garden Hotline for free answers to your gardening questions!
(206) 633‑0224 or www.gardenhotline.org

Visit www.savingwater.org for more watering tips and lots of information about environmentally friendly lawn and garden care.