Latest Water, Irrigation Report Not Great for Columbia Basin

According to the Bureau of Relamation's latest update, not a lot has changed for Mid Columbia and SE WA irrigators.

   A little rain has helped

The Bureau, who are the Federal entity that monitors and oversees irrigation and other water resources in WA state, has released their September water forecast. It's not a great improvement over August but a little good news.

According to the release from the Burearu:

"The early estimate of the total water supply available for the May 20–September period indicates senior water rights will receive 100% full entitlements, but junior water rights will receive 40% of their full entitlements."

Water rights are done on a first-come first-serve basis, and most of them go back many decades. That's how it works.

So far, September appears to be very similar to August, but Bureau says there was some improvement according to the release:

"Storage in the Yakima basin reservoirs on Sept. 1 was 20% full with 218,000 acre-feet, which is 44% of average. Precipitation for August was 3.45 inches, 109% of average and for October–August was 77% of average."

Get our free mobile app

These reports are based on a wide range of precipitation reports, from rainfall to snowpack and how much is melting and other hydrological (water) factors.