Reclamation announces irrigation availability

YAKIMA — The Bureau of Reclamation announced Thursday that the Yakima Project’s reservoirs were holding just more than 553,000 acre-feet of water as of April 1, meaning the system was about half full, according to a bureau press release.

That means holders of senior water rights will receive 100% of their entitled water allotment while holders of junior water rights are set to receive 82% of their water allotment, according to the press release. Current stored water levels in the system are roughly 76% of average, while precipitation in March was 59% of average and 76% of normal for the October-March period, the press release noted.

On April 1, the amount of water in the snowpack that will feed into the Yakima Project was 94% of average, the press release noted.

The Yakima Project provides irrigation water for roughly 464,000 acres of land along the Yakima River, including around 136,000 acres of tribal land, according to information available at the Bureau of Reclamation’s Yakima Project website.