(Bloomberg) — Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Friday declared a drought emergency, citing historically low snowpack and dwindling rivers.
The arid conditions are threatening crops and fish and could cause more wildfires as snow drops to 16% of normal levels and 78% of streams run below average, according to a statement from Inslee's office.
“We're really starting to feel the pain,” Inslee, a 64-year-old Democrat, said in the statement. “Impacts are already severe in several areas of the state.”
The Western drought that's gripping California for a fourth year is spreading as climate change accelerates the melting of snowpacks, which supply most water in the western U.S. That's forced farmers to reduce crop production, struggle to find adequate water and spend thousands to dig deeper wells to tap diminishing groundwater.
Glacier lilies are blooming on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, where there would normally be 80 inches of snow, Inslee's office said in the release. Fish are being hauled upstream to cooler water in the Walla Walla region.
Washington's farmers are facing an estimated $1.2 billion in crop losses this year, according to the state's Agriculture Department. Irrigation districts are turning off water to farmers for weeks to conserve supply for later in the year in the Yakima Basin, popular for growing wine grapes and beer hops.
Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
