OREGON
Thursday, August 5, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
A drought like no other, NOAA scientist says Survey: Oregonians
are concerned about
water management
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
SALEM — The West has
been so dry and so hot for so
long that its current drought
has no modern precedent,
according to a National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration meteorolo-
gist.
For the first time in
122 years of record-keep-
ing, drought covers almost
the entire Western U.S. as
measured by the Palmer
Drought Severity Index, said
Richard Heim, a drought
historian and an author of the
U.S. Drought Monitor.
“It’s a very simple ‘yes,’
in terms of this drought
being unprecedented,” Heim
said.
The Palmer index esti-
mates relative soil moisture
based on temperature and
precipitation records. Unlike
the Standard Precipitation
Index, which measures water
supply, the Palmer index
also takes into account heat-
driven demand for water.
In June, about 97% of the
West — Arizona, California,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Oregon, Utah
and Washington — was
in water-deficit territory,
according to the Palmer
index.
Utah was never drier,
while Oregon and Cali-
fornia were at their second
driest on record. Idaho and
Arizona were at their third
driest ever, and Nevada was
at its fourth driest.
Washington was at its
10th driest, while Montana
and New Mexico, where
recent monsoons have
brought relief, were at their
17th driest.
Oregon and Washington
By MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
Brad Rippey/U.S Department of Agriculture
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows the western United States ranges from abnormally dry to
exceptional drought.
state climatologists gave
their qualified endorsement
for calling this drought
“unprecedented.”
“I’d be slightly cautious
about calling it ‘unprece-
dented,’ but that’s probably
a fair description,” Oregon
State Climatologist Larry
O’Neill said. “It’s border-
line unprecedented, or at
least among the worst.”
The cumulative effects of
the West’s current drought,
illustrated by low major
reservoirs, gives credence
to calling it unprecedented,
Washington State Climatol-
ogist Nick Bond said.
“I don’t have any real
quarrel with using that
term,” he said.
The Drought Monitor, a
partnership between NOAA
and the USDA, has been
mapping drought in the U.S.
since 2000. The percentage
of the West in “exceptional
drought,” the worst category,
has never been higher. More
than 95% of the nine West-
ern states is in some stage of
drought.
Heim said the combina-
tion of prolonged above-av-
erage temperatures and
below-normal precipitation
set this drought apart from
two multiyear droughts
that spanned the 1930s and
1950s.
The U.S. entered another
extended dry episode in
1998, he said. The drought
has eased periodically, but
never really went away and
reasserted itself beginning
last spring, he said.
A 24-month period that
ended June 30 was the driest
such two-year period ever
in the West, according to
records dating back to 1895.
The same time period was
the sixth warmest.
Other two-year dry peri-
ods, such as 1976 and 1977,
were not as hot, Heim said.
“I would define this
(drought) as still part of a
20-plus-year drought,” he
said. “In the last year and
a half, we have been on an
intensifying trend.”
The drought’s depth,
duration and cause varies by
state, making comparisons
between the current drought
and past droughts imperfect.
In measuring drought,
“there is no simple best
way,” Bond said. “There are
different flavors of drought.”
Wa sh i ng ton’s 1977
drought was much worse
judged solely by the precip-
itation index. About 90% of
Washington was in excep-
tional drought in June 1977,
compared to less than 1%
this June.
PORTLAND — Seven
out of 10 Oregonians are
concerned about how the
state’s groundwater and
surface water are being
managed. Most Oregonians
say the answer to resolving
water problems is increasing
state subsidies for high-effi-
ciency irrigation equipment.
Those are two findings in
a recent survey conducted
by the Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center, a Port-
land-based nonprofit. The
survey was conducted state-
wide in July and involved
1,464 respondents. It carries
a margin of error of 1.5% to
2.6%.
Results of the survey
show that while Oregonians
are largely concerned about
water issues, many believe
that there is enough water to
serve all needs and shortages
are not likely to occur. These
opinions are being expressed
while the entire state is in
some form of drought.
According to the U.S.
drought monitor, more than
half of the state is in extreme
or exceptional drought.
Coastal areas and the Willa-
mette Valley are in moderate
or severe drought.
Key findings in the survey
show that a quarter of respon-
dents are not very or not at all
concerned about the manage-
ment of surface and ground-
water.
The survey suggests
age as a factor in determin-
ing who is concerned about
water management. Around
63% of people age 18 to 44
said they are somewhat or
very concerned while around
74% of those over 45 were
concerned.
Concern also increased
with education — 60% of
those with only a high school
diploma said they were
concerned with the number
rising to 76% for those with
a college diploma.
Party affiliation also
played an important role in
how people felt about water
management — 78% of
Democrats said they were
somewhat or very concerned
while 61% of Republicans fell
into this category.
Survey respondents had a
variety of opinions about the
management of groundwa-
ter by farmers and ranchers.
Subsidizing water-efficient
irrigation systems received
the st rongest suppor t
among mitigation strate-
gies, along with increasing
the state budget for ground-
water research to ensure
future availability. Both fell
into the so-called tier-one
support category for having
the support of 70% or more of
survey respondents, accord-
ing to the Oregon Values and
Beliefs Center.
“It’s notable that neither
proposal involves more
restrictions or limitations on
agricultural water usage, but
rather encourages and facil-
itates proactive solutions,”
according to the survey.
“Both proposals do, however,
necessitate larger financial
investment from the state.”
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