(The Center Square) – On Thursday, the Washington State Department of Ecology expanded its drought emergency to include watersheds in Snohomish, King, Pierce, Lewis, Thurston, Okanagan, Chelan, Clallam, Jefferson and Ferry counties.
This expansion was triggered by deteriorating conditions in those areas, including early and rapid snowmelt and dry weather.
On April 8, Ecology declared drought for the Yakima Basin watersheds and issued a drought advisory for the Puget Sound region and portions of the Central and North Cascades.
According to Ecology, a drought is declared in Washington when less than 75% of the normal water supply is available and there is a risk of undue hardship or impacts on water users and the environment.
“For most of the people who live in the major metro areas of the Puget Sound region and get their water from Seattle, Tacoma or Everett, those reservoirs and water supplies are in good shape,” explained Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller at Thursday’s virtual news conference. “The utility companies do not expect hardship for their customers.”
That’s not the case in some rural and agricultural areas in the state, including portions of the Puget Sound and the Central and North Cascades “that will see real impacts.”
Drought impacts Washington’s farmers, communities that depend on snowmelt for water, and salmon and other fish populations.
“Declaring drought triggers relief tools, including the ability to expedite emergency water rights transfers and offer emergency drought grants to public entities,” Sixkiller explained.
Ecology is making up to $4.5 million available in drought emergency response grants to eligible public entities to address the water supply impacts of current drought conditions.
Deputy State Climatologist Karin Bumbaco went into more detail about why Washington is in this situation.
“The two main drivers have been above-normal temperatures and below-normal April and May precipitation,” she said.
Bumbaco noted April was nearly two degrees Fahrenheit above normal temperatures, the 25th warmest April since records began in 1895. Total precipitation in April and May was less than 60% of the normal amounts for most of the state.
Snowpack levels peaked nearly two weeks earlier than usual, Bumbaco continued, melting as much as four weeks early.
Bumbaco said the upcoming months will likely bring more of the same warm, dry weather.
The National Interagency Fire Center predicts an above-normal risk of wildfires in Eastern Washington, starting this month, and potentially worsening through the summer due to dry and stressed vegetation, which is highly flammable.
“If we do get wildfires,” Bumbaco said, “they will grow and be a concern this year for a majority of the state.”
That’s especially concerning because the state Legislature this session decided to cut the wildfire prevention budget by half.
In 2021, lawmakers passed a bill to allocate about $120 million in wildfire prevention efforts every two years. Now, the state Department of Natural Resources will only get $60 million in total. Of that, $40 million will go to fiscal year 2026, and the other $20 million will go to fiscal year 2027.
