NORTH OLYMPIC PENINSULA emergency managers Saturday called Gov. Jay Inslee’s drought emergency declaration a precursor to conservation steps as the weather dries out.
Unlike floods, for which they start planning each summer, emergency planners don’t anticipate annual droughts, said Jamye Wisecup, program manager for Clallam County Emergency Management.
She said Inslee’s declaration was a directive for planners to start meeting with cities, public utility districts and firefighters in their areas.
The first such session in Clallam County is set for this week, she said.
Wisecup said she and other officials will look to the Makah’s response to a severe water shortage in 2006, when the tribe used Navy equipment to desalinate seawater at Neah Bay.
In August of that year, the Makah Tribal Council put strict water regulations in place after scanty rain and high visitor traffic reduced the tribe’s supply of drinking water to two days.
Neah Bay residents reduced their water consumption from 350,000 gallons per day to 200,000 gallons during the crisis that continued until autumn rains began.
For now, though, rains continue to swell rivers on the Peninsula.
“The problem is going to be in the summertime, not now,” said Ron Cameron, Clallam County undersheriff and emergency management director.
“If it’s a wet summer, it may not be as big a problem as anticipated. However, historically it dries out in the summer, when we have to rely on snowpack.”
Snowpack in the Olympic Mountains stands at about 8 percent of average.
Bob Hamlin, Jefferson County emergency management director, called Inslee’s declaration “more bluster than activity. I’ve been through a couple of these things before.
“But later on, it will allow actions to be taken this summer.”
Dungeness Valley farmers who rely on irrigation ditches fed by the Dungeness River that flows from the mountains will be among the hardest-hit.
Wildlife also may suffer, especially salmon trying to swim up low-flowing streams. And wildfire poses a threat if forests and their floors of fallen leaves and needles turn to tinder.
Both Cameron and Hamlin said they would meet soon with other agencies that face problems from the drought, such as public utility districts, city water departments and fire districts.
Inslee’s declaration is “more anticipatory than anything,” Cameron said.
“I’m sure that issue is going to be raising its head as the summer approaches.”
