In this summer of heat, low snowpack levels threaten another season of wildfires and low agricultural production.

A long hot summer after a cold dry winter

Continuing a trend in recent years, residents of Kittitas County have had less access to valuable water reserves each summer due to low snowpacks.

On March 13, 2015, Ecology director Maia Bellon declared a drought in 11 river basins that met the threshold of less than 75 percent of water supply. This included the Yakima River Basin of Kittitas County. Drought was since declared statewide by Governor Jay Inslee on May 15, 2015.

Drought has a devastating effect on farmers

Farmers are receiving as low as 44 percent of their normal irrigation needs, Joye Redfield-Wilder of the Washington Department of Ecology said. Redfield-Wilder added that “many may only get one cutting of hay to sell to market and will have to forgo the profits of a second or third cutting.”

“All of our customers are being affected this year,” Kevin Elinger, operations Manager for the Kittitas

Reclamation District said. “Farmers are receiving less than half of their normal [water] supply.”

Eslinger said operations at the Kittitas Reclamation District normally go through Oct. 15. This year, however, they expect to be finished distributing as soon as Aug. 1.

The Washington Department of Agriculture estimates a worst case impact could be a loss of $1.2 Billion in farm/crop related economic income.

Fires are a real threat in populated and rural areas

The average citizen might not notice the drought, but it is causing dangerous fire conditions in rural areas. City residents and college students should also be aware that their activities in town can cause fire danger in these hot and dry conditions.

The shortage of water can result in low water pressures if demand is high to fight a fire, Redfield-Wilder said

“That occurred this last week with the Sleepy Hollow fire in Wenatchee where residents were asked to reduce their water use as firefighters used a great deal of water to knock down fires at warehouses and homes,” Redfield-Wilder added.

Ellensburg resident of 30 years, Tyler Carollo, said that a year ago his home was threatened by fires. He and his family we forced to evacuate their animals and had to scavenge every available hose to combat flames to create a fire break.

“Flames were 30 to 50 feet away from the house,” Carollo said.

Redfield-Wilder says rural residents should create fire breaks and follow fire safe guidelines to provide protection to homes from wildfires. Governor Jay Inslee has made money available for drought victims.

Relief funds are available for drought response for the central region by visiting the Department of Ecology website.