Long, hot summer: Drought looking likely for Columbia Basin

MOSES LAKE — It’s been a dry spring across nearly the entire state of Washington, and that means there is a very good likelihood of drought this summer.

“We had a great snow pack but no spring rains, and we’re way behind on precipitation over the last three months,” said Scott Pattee, a water supply specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Snow Survey Program. “Eighty percent of the state is in drought.”

The Snow Survey Program monitors mountain snowpack across the Western United States for the USDA’s National Resource Conservation Service.

While the Washington State Department of Ecology has issued a nearly statewide drought advisory, it has not yet declared a drought. However, according to data available from the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, a collection of volunteer observations and measurements overseen by the National Weather Service and Colorado State University, less than a quarter of an inch of rain on average fell on the Columbia Basin from April 16 through May 31, though one volunteer rain gauge in Almira in Lincoln County recorded 1.4 inches of rain.

While there are no listed rain measurements in Grant County, Othello registered one-hundredth of an inch for the six weeks from mid-April through the end of May, while Ritzville registered thirteen-hundredths of an inch and Wenatchee roughly two-tenths of an inch of rain during the same period.

According to a report from the Washington State Climatologist, rainfall measured in Ephrata averaged seven-hundredths of an inch in April, only 15% of the 1981-2010 average of nearly one-half of an inch.

Pattee said that much of the snowpack on the eastern slopes of the Cascades has already melted, and because the soil across much of the eastern part of the state is so dry, some of the snowmelt never made it to the Columbia River.

“We also didn’t get low elevation snow,” he said. “We didn’t get cold temperatures in winter, and low elevation snow helps recharge aquifers.”

Pattee said the forecast for the next three months is more of the same — higher-than-average temperatures and lower-than-average rainfall.

“Around Moses Lake, if it grows, it’s got to be watered,” he said.

While this is not likely to be a problem for irrigators using the Columbia River provided by the Columbia Basin Project (CBP), Pattee said it could be a problem for towns and families dependent on well water.

“Shallow wells are going dry, especially in the basalt areas, which is most of Eastern Washington,” he said.

Othello Mayor Shawn Logan said the city, which right now is completely dependent on well water, has seen the water level decline over the years. That has prompted Othello to look for other water sources, including a pilot project to store CBP water in an aquifer underneath the city, Logan said.

While Othello only used project water to irrigate city parks and lands, Logan said the hope is to eventually use some of that water to meet the drinking water needs.

In the meantime, Logan said the city would ration water if necessary, by limiting when people could water their yards, something the city had to do several years ago when two of its wells went down in the summer.

“If this goes on for an extended period of time, there is some concern,” Logan said.

According to Jaclyn Hancock, a hydrogeologist and drought coordinator with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, the greatest effects are likely to be felt by dryland wheat and lentil farmers and cattle ranchers reliant on pasture.

Hancock said she’s spoken to a number of dryland farmers across eastern Washington who have reported burnt and yellowing wheat stalks, as well as wheat trying to “head out,” or create the kernels of wheat, three weeks early.

“There’s not quite enough water to head out,” she said.

Wheat yields across the region will likely be lower this year, especially in the Columbia Basin, while ranchers will probably be moving cattle around more often, selling off cattle they can’t feed, or buying feed much earlier than they normally would.

“Because there’s not enough pasture to keep fully stocked,” she said.