Tired of spending more time in courtrooms than at conference tables, the water managers of the Yakima Basin hashed out a plan a decade ago to manage the Yakima River and its tributaries for the next 30 years to ensure a stable supply of water.
Some experts on Western water point to the Yakima plan as a model for what needs to happen on the Colorado right now.
The circumstances aren’t completely parallel, but some experts on Western water point to the Yakima plan as a model for the kind of cooperative effort that needs to happen on the Colorado right now. Climate change and recurring drought had wreaked havoc with the water supply for irrigation managers and farmers in the Yakima Basin, one of the most productive agricultural regions in the country. Conservationists were concerned that habitats were drying up, threatening species. Old dams built to store water had blocked the passage of fish, all but eliminating the trout and salmon that the Indigenous Yakama Nation had harvested for centuries.
The two met, and eventually other stakeholders joined them in developing a plan for better management of the river. After several years of give-and-take, the result was the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a blueprint for ensuring a reliable and resilient water supply for farmers, municipalities, natural habitats and fish, even in the face of continued warming and potentially more droughts.
Now, hundreds of miles to the south and east, there’s a similar sense of desperation among the users of the Colorado. The states missed a mid-August deadline to negotiate next year’s cuts. The federal government has effectively given them more time, but is threatening to step in and order the reductions.
All of that makes some water managers on the Colorado doubt that the Yakima plan could be much of a model. The Yakima River has a long history of overuse, dating to the early white settlers who arrived after a treaty was signed between the federal government and the Yakama Nation in 1855. The river and its tributaries were dammed and diverted, and irrigation systems were built. Water shortages quickly became an issue, especially in dry years, leading to decades of conflicts among users.
In 2010, the federal Bureau of Reclamation undertook a study of the basin, looking at how it would fare as the world continued to warm. The findings added impetus to the drive to develop a plan. Rigdon said that now, as likely as not, a project gets widespread support, even from groups that might not see as much benefit from it. Although challenges remain, he said, “We’ve understood what the other side needs. And they’re no longer the other side.”
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