Looking for Water

Now that California's Governor Jerry Brown has lifted the lid on the subject of drought there is going to be a lot more talk about what to do to get through the growing season. While Washington State is not in as dire a situation as California, a large section of southern Oregon is. Governor Inslee has already declared a drought emergency for three regions of the state. Fortunately precipitation has been falling over the Cascades the last few days and that will bring some needed relief. But looking ahead, plans are in place to make sure there is plenty of water for streams. The Washington Department of Ecology is looking to lease water from irrigators to keep streams from going dry in the upper Yakima River Basin. The agency has scheduled workshops in Yakima and Cle Elum to explain how farmers can get paid for forgoing their senior water diversions and not planting a crop for the entire 2015 irrigation season. Joye Redfield-Wilder, with the Department of Ecology discusses some upcoming workshops.

REDFIELD-WILDER: We want to make sure that senior water rights holders who might be interested in leasing their water can come and understand how the leasing program works, how they might qualify and just answer any questions that they might have.

This is not the first time this has happened and in fact Redfield-Wilder says it's getting much more common. She says they are look for hay and annual producers who might like to get paid for not planting a crop which could help other producers like orchardists and vineyards owners keep their crops going.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.