Washington Updating State Drought Plan

Washington is in the middle of updating the state’s drought plan, partially in response to the extreme drought of 2015.

Department of Ecology’s Jeff Marti said they want to find better ways to forecast weather and potential droughts as well as being better positioned to act when a drought emergency occurs.

“We’re looking at the pre-positioning of agreements, water leases, water rights transfers. Having things in place that can be activated very quickly in case it’s necessary.”

DOE has received a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation to fund this work.

Assistant State Climatologist Karin Bumbacco said her department is looking at a wide variety of forecasting skills and ideas, new tools and more.

“Taking a closer look at some of the drought monitoring indicators to see if there really are ones that are better suited for monitoring drought in Washington.”

The new drought plan will be open to the public for review in June.

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