Eastern Washington Drought Numbers Get Worse

A few weeks ago state and federal officials estimated many irrigation districts would receive anywhere from 70-78 percent of their normal water allocations for 2015. Now, those numbers have dropped again.

The Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency, has released a report indicating they've already have to release some stored water to help water flows much earlier than usual.

Sometimes stored water in certain lakes and reservoirs is released to help "boost" rivers and other irrigation sources, but usually not until June or later in the summer.

Some irrigation districts in our region will now only get 54% of their normal water allocation,  Kennewick irrigation district's share has dropped to around 60%.

The bulk of the problem is that while normal precipitation levels were met in the mountain regions, it was mostly rain, and not snow. Snowpack normally lingers until mid-summer, with the gradual melt off supplying reservoirs and rivers for irrigation.

While nothing has been officially declared, it is likely watering restrictions will be utilized sometime this summer in virtually all the Mid-Columbia irrigation districts.

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