Seven of the last 10 years, the state of Washington has been in some form of drought, with water levels below 75% of “normal levels.”
Longer periods with less rain, shrinking snow packs and dwindling glaciers all contribute to the issue, experts say.
A statewide initiative announced in the spring by Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and led by the Department of Ecology seeks to study and establish how the state will handle increasing water shortages and quality issues over the next 50 years.
“The system that we've relied on to supply water for all the purposes in Washington is changing, and that means that we need to be able to adapt and prepare,” Jennifer Hennessey, special assistant to the director of Ecology, said at a Chehalis Basin Board meeting earlier this month.
The Chehalis Basin Board hosted members of a smaller conservation group, the Chehalis Basin Partnership, at its monthly meeting on Thursday, Sept. 3, to discuss Washington's Water Future Initiative. It is one of many in-person roundtables, which are the first stage of the initiative that seeks long-term solutions to the water supply and quality issues.
“The goals really are to build a shared understanding among the greatest challenges that communities are facing,” Hennessey said. “We know, and this basin is a great example, that there are win-win solutions out there. Things that can both help protect communities and protect species.”
During the meeting, participants from Southwest Washington and the South Puget Sound regions called out regulatory and enforcement issues, voiced concerns about funding for water quality and called for a greater emphasis on watershed management, including through forestland management.
Individuals affiliated with the Chehalis Basin Partnership were very active during the session, hammering on the need for local and state governments to better follow watershed management plans.
The partnership, which was established by state law in 1988, is responsible for planning around and managing water resources in the Chehalis Basin Watershed. The group developed a streamflow restoration plan in 2020 to plan for ways to improve stream health in the basin.
One longtime contributor to the partnership, Terry Franklin, shared her own concerns that development often disregards recommendations for water health included in watershed management plans.
According to Watershed Coordinator Kirsten Harma, concerns from partnership members can be summed up into three main requests for local and state governments: “work with existing watershed groups, read existing management plans and integrate land use into water.”
Voting member of the Chehalis Basin Board and Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay shared concerns over water supply, adding that he would like to see the state help smaller cities fund work to develop new water sources.
He also commented on regulatory issues, arguing that they place an undue burden on large projects intended to address environmental issues.
“We're trying to remove a dam right now, and the amount of permitting that we're doing for that is large,” Shay said. “The permitting that we're going through to build the flood levees in Aberdeen and Hoquiam is enormous.”
Thurston County Natural Resources Program Manager Bryan Benjamin said that his local government would like to see more attention given to how forests contribute to water management. Forests are largely responsible for helping rainwater be absorbed into the ground and into critical aquifers.
“We need to plan for hydrologic forest management, not only for improved hydrologic outcomes but for natural species,” Benjamin said.
The hour-long roundtable led by Hennessey, as the representative for Ecology in the room, covered a lot of ground in a short time but didn’t come with one particular conclusion.
A report from Hennessey also detailed basin-wide concerns already identified by the state. Studies on climate-related changes to the basin over the next 100 years show flood depths increasing, which would impact cities such as Centralia and Chehalis.
According to Hennessey, all of the information and feedback from the many ongoing outreach discussions, like the one hosted by the Chehalis Basin Board, will be used to develop a report on the state's water future by the end of the year. That report is expected to include possible short-term actions to address concerns.
According to Hennessey, further actions concerning water are expected, but exactly what those actions are will depend on the findings from the regional discussions wrapping up this month.
“The objective that we have through the initiative at this point in time is really to listen and learn from folks,” Hennessey said. “We're really interested in learning from folks about the key issues, interests and needs that are present here. The types of solutions you all want to advance, and what the barriers are.”
The governor’s office announced the beginning of the Washington’s Water Future Initiative in May of this year, stating that more regular and intense droughts in the state required looking more closely at water supply concerns.
For more information about the initiative, visit https://tinyurl.com/mtn7brxa.
