An irrigation canal carries water to farmers in the Yakima River basin. The Bureau of Reclamation projects farmers with junior water rights will receive 45% of normal allotments. (Don Jenkins/Capital Press)

Yakima River basin farmers with junior water rights can expect 45% of their full water allotments, as the irrigation outlook for the south-central Washington region held steady over the second half of June.

The water rationing projected July 3 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was the same as the agency predicted in mid-June. Depending on the weather, the supply could rise as high as 48% or drop as low as 41%, according to the bureau.

The Roza Irrigation District plans to stop delivering water on Sept. 28, 23 days earlier than usual. If the water shortage worsens, the district’s board will have to decide whether to shorten the season more, reduce flows or do a combination, district manager Scott Revell said.

“I’m always nervous it’s going to drop,” he said.

The Reclamation Bureau’s five reservoirs store water to irrigate some 464,000 acres. Farmers with senior water rights will receive full allotments, but this is the third straight summer that junior water-right holders have been cut back.

Only once in the past 55 years have the reservoirs been this low at the start of July. They hold only 67% as much water as usual.

In better water years, Roza, an 72,000-acre district based in Sunnyside, delivers water until Oct. 15 to irrigate fruit and hops. Farmers are fallowing ground to stretch the water out, Revell said. “They’re having to make tough, tough decisions.”

The Reclamation Bureau projected at the beginning of June that irrigators would be cut back to 43% of normal. The bump up in mid-June to 45% helped hay farmers with their first cuttings, said Urban Eberhart, manager of the 59,000-acre Kittitas Reclamation District in Ellensburg.

“Two percentage points is actually incredibly helpful when we’re this short,” he said.

The district hopes to deliver water until Sept. 1, but will have to ramp down water deliveries this month, Eberhart said. Most of the district’s fruit growers have wells to draw from, he said.