by ALANA LINDEROTH

Sequim Gazette

Nearly zero snowpack in the Olympic Mountains is cause for drought on the peninsula, including the Elwha-Dungeness watershed. With no reservoir established, the Dungeness Valley and its water users instead rely on snowpack – thus, despite recent rainfall the future looks dry.

“The volume of runoff (into the Dungeness River) from April through September is expected to be the lowest ever in 45 years and lower than any other drought year,” Jeff Marti, Washington Department of Ecology’s water resources program drought coordinator, said in reference to a water supply chart generated by officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest River Forecast Center.

Via ongoing modeling, officials with the Northwest River Forecast Center predict the water supply for the Dungeness River will be 43 percent of normal from April through September.

“A drought can be declared when an area is experiencing or projected to experience a water supply that is below 75 percent of normal and water users within those areas will likely incur undue hardships as a result of the shortage,” Mike Gallagher, water resources section head for the DOE Southwest Regional, said. “The Dungeness is well below normal.”

The Olympic Peninsula was among three regions in the state that Gov. Jay Inslee declared drought for on March 13. Other regions included Yakima, Wenatchee and the Walla Walla region.

“We can’t wait any longer, we have to prepare now for drought conditions that are in store for much of the state,” Inslee said. “Snowpack is at record lows and we have farms, vital agricultural regions, communities and fish that are going to need our support.”

In preparation for dealing with the challenges of little to no snowpack and therefore water supply, DOE officials already have a request into the Legislature for $9 million for drought relief, Dan Partridge, communications manager for DOE’s Water Resources Program, said. Relief funds may be used for agricultural and fisheries projects, emergency water-right permits, changes to existing water rights and grant water-right transfers.

Lease program

Given the Dungeness Valley is one of, if not the largest area, to rely on irrigation in Western Washington, officials with Washington Water Trust are finalizing a “Dungeness 2015 Dry Year Leasing Program,” Amanda Cronin, Washington Water Trust project manager, said.

Utilizing $200,000 from DOE, Cronin will collaborate with the seven irrigation districts and companies that comprise the Dungeness Water Users Association to solicit a voluntary late season leasing program from Aug. 15 through Sept. 15.

“This is a really poor snowpack year and perhaps one of the worst since recording began for the Olympic Mountains,” Cronin said. “It is our goal to conduct a water leasing program that is both economical for irrigators and beneficial for Dungeness River flows in the late season.”

Eligible water users (those with a recent history of irrigating commercial agricultural crops on at least 5 acres) will have the opportunity to participate in bid form process, Cronin said. All bids will be reviewed by WWT officials, who will prioritize low bids to high bids and the larger number of acres among comparable bids. Water users with accepted bids will then be paid for fallowing their fields in the late season.

“This is our primary way to increase flow in the river,” Cronin said. “We’ve done leasing programs before and have had good participation.”

Although this year’s water return from snowpack is anticipated to be the lowest yet for the Dungeness, past state droughts were declared in 1977, 2001 and 2005, Marti said.

Locally, DOE officials did similar late season lease programs in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and WWT officials did a lease program in 2009.

Shift in seasons

Precipitation continues to fall, but unusually warm temperatures have caused most to fall in the form of rain instead of snow, Ben Smith of Highland Irrigation District and owner of Maple View Farm, explained – causing his crops to be about three weeks ahead of schedule.

In addition to maintaining a dairy, Smith farms about 700 acres in Sequim and admits he “can’t imagine us having enough water for those last 30 days (of the season).” However, the weather conditions and the early onset of crops may make up for some of the harvest potentially lost at the end of the season, he said.

Regardless of a possible early first harvest, given the snowpack or lack there of, Smith said there will “definitely be a plea out there for everyone to use water sparingly.”

The dry forecast is considered daunting by most agricultural standards, but for lavender farmers the drought may be beneficial.

“Lavender is probably one of the best drought-tolerant perennial there is,” Paul Schiefen, lavender farmer and owner of Jardin du Soleil, said. “We’re concerned for other farmers, but we’re not stressed about it.”

Because of ample precipitation Schiefen watered his lavender fields for the first time in three years just last year, and not much water at that, he said.

“Lavender prefers to not have too much water,” Schiefen said. “Actually, being somewhat water stressed causes the plant to produce more oils and fragrance.”

Drought conditions could produce one of the most fragrant lavender seasons, but Schiefen noted the only disadvantage is the dry weather likely will cause the plants to bloom a few weeks early, similar to Smith’s commercial crops.

Looking ahead toward a possible long-term water management strategy, Smith is optimistic about the reservoir site on River Road owned by Department of Natural Resources. If the option proves viable, it could provide up to 1,500 acre-feet for water storage and supply water for late summer irrigation and facilitate better stormwater management.

“DNR (officials) have taken quite a while to respond to our inquiry, but have indicated that they are considering the project internally and will let us know what the options are,” Cronin said. “We’re still hopeful the project will move forward, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

To track snow and watershed totals, DOE officials are posting daily updates to its drought website at www.ecy.wa.gov/drought.