Reclamation: Junior Water Rights Holders Will Get 75% This Year

The Bureau of Reclamation’s latest forecast indicates Yakima Basin junior water rights holders will received 75% of their allotment this summer.  Storage in the Yakima Basin Reservoirs is at 86% of average, leading to the reduction.  Senior water rights holders are expected to get their full allotment this season.

The May forecast is based on flows, precipitation, snowpack and reservoir storage as of May 1, along with estimates of future precipitation and river flows.

Chuck Garner, the Yakima Project river operations supervisor, said that robust precipitation last month, led to wetter-than-normal conditions. April saw 15.9 inches of rain fall in the Yakima Basin, which was 115% percent of average.

“We have seen alternately wet months and dry months this year,” Garner said. “We are hoping May will be moderately wet and not too warm.”

Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a drought emergency in the Upper Yakima Basin last month.

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