OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Pacific Northwest’s warm, dry summer comes with a price, state lawmakers learned Monday.
Officials from several state agencies laid out the impact of the state’s unusually dry spring and summer to members of the state House and Senate.
In early May, water supply and snowpack were near or above average across the state, but that all changed after what turned out to be the warmest May in recorded history, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology.
”May was like, I liken it to a sugar high, and now our rivers are hangry,” said Jeff Marti, Ecology's drought coordinator.
Marti said farmers in Yakima County are having to select which of their crops, usually the most valuable, get watered.
“Basically sacrificing some crops to save others,” said Marti.
The state has halted sturgeon fishing in the Columbia River following a higher-than-average number of sturgeon deaths that could be attributed to the drought, said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Drought Coordinator Megan Kernan.
Kernan said wild animals across the state have less food thanks to the drought.
”When forage conditions are poor that has an impact to wildlife, not just in terms of their general health, but to their ability to reproduce,” said Kernan.
Republican state Sen. Judy Warnick said drought is a nonpartisan issue and one that requires more attention.
”The average person doesn’t know we’re in danger of losing our rivers, streams, lakes, due to drought,” said Warnick of Moses Lake.
She said legislators should look at tax incentives for homeowners who install water-efficient appliances and perhaps look at watering restrictions to prepare for future droughts.
”You know we’ve got the soccer fields, well, can we play with a little less grass?” said Warnick. “I don’t want to go there unless we have to. But we also have to eat.”