Roza Irrigation Preparing For Little Water This Year

While spring doesn't start until March 20th, there are many growers, especially in central Washington, already nervous about what the irrigation season will look like.  Scott Revell, Manager of the Roza Irrigation District, noted a statewide snowpack of 50% is beyond concerning.

"The snow holds more water than all of the five reservoirs combined, and so our snowpack this year is, far below average and is less than 50% overall in the basin up in the mountains,” he said.

And while the snowpack is very poor at this point, Revell said there is a silver lining, area reservoirs that are in good shape thanks to the atmospheric river the region experienced back in December.

What If Temperatures Climb Too Quickly?

Another concern for many is the potential of an early runoff if springtime temperatures climb too quickly.  While not ideal, Revell says the Roza would be able to adjust to an early runoff.

“For us, it actually is good because it gives us more time to adapt," Revell said.  "And so what it means for typical Roza growers, we're probably going to be shutting the system down early in the spring for at least two weeks. And we'll, then move that water later in the season, until the runoff period occurs and we switch over to being on control of the river through reservoir releases. And that's right now, we think that'll happen probably in middle to late April. But until that happens, we can't shut the system down and move the water to later in the season.”

Very Similar To 2015

Revell added that means the Roza Irrigation District will be running at very low flows; some of the lowest flows the District can operate the canal at.  Does that mean there could be situations this year where water rights holders don’t get water?  Find out by listening to our podcast with Revell.

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com