KENNEWICK, Wash. – The last time Kennewick saw a drought that required restrictions was back in 2015. Seth Dafoe, Manager of water and resources for the Kennewick Irrigation District says right now there aren’t any plans to put restrictions in place.
While there won’t be any restrictions in place for KID customers, Dafoe told me he would still like people to stick to a watering schedule because you never know what might change.
“We always advocate that people are water conscious and use conservation when the water,” said Dafoe.
Dafoe says farmers or those in the agricultural community will have a full water supply. Those using irrigation for their yards will have an 86% supply.
This means if water does start to run low, homeowners will have to use the water after farmers do.
“Our snowpack was fairly good up in the mountains, above average,” said Dafoe. “It was dryer down lower so our reservoirs just weren’t able to fill. They were well below average.”
Local landscaper Rudy Corona is only 20 years old and owns the company Tri-Cities Lawn and Irrigation. He told me if restrictions do end up happening, there are ways to have a nice yard still.
“Cut your grass taller during the summer,” said Corona. “That will help your grass be more drought tolerant. I’d recommend watering your grass Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.”
Corona says how long you water depends on the type of sprinkler you have. He says a good time to water is just before the sun comes up and at night. He says if there is going to be a drought, but you still want to plant something, make sure it’s used to the area.
“If you do a landscaping set up, where you have plants that are native to the area and grass that is native to the area,” said Corona. “That will definitely fight against a drought.”
According to Dafoe, we’ve been in a La Nina pattern and next year we are shifting to El Nino which will affect how much water we will have.
“If that happens, that typically means dryer and warmer for our region,” says Dafoe. “So we’d keep a close eye on that to see if that’s going to impact our water supply.”
Dafoe told me in the Yakima Basin they average a drought every five years and we are due for another one soon.
