In mid-April the State Department of Ecology declared a statewide drought emergency, on the early side as far as the state making drought declarations – that according to Ria Berns, water program manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology. This year’s drought is a “snowpack drought,” resulting from snowpack that is far below normal especially in certain regions, namely the North Cascades, Olympics, and Lower Yakima Basin. Water experts consider snowpack a reservoir. With climate change “We’re losing a significant reservoir, and that’s going to continue a downward trend over time,” according to Berns.
Plus, how will the drought impact agriculture? We put that question to Perry Beale, who manages the State Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences program. He’s also co-owner of a dryland wheat farm and ranch in Pomeroy. While it’s too early to know the impacts on ag, Beale says farmers are already thinking and planning for contingencies – and he gives example of innovative things farmers are already doing to conserve water. The financial hit to farming, a mainstay of the Washington economy, can be big: An after study of the 2015 drought found it had a $700-800 million economic impact for the Yakima Valley in a single year.
Learn more about the science of drought, water management, and how farmers prep for a low-water year, this week on Inside Olympia.