WALLA WALLA — Stakeholders say they are continuing to work on priorities for the 1,760-square-mile Walla Walla River watershed identified in a strategic plan for the next 29 years.

Over the last decade, stakeholders have worked to increase streamflows and protect the amount of water that farmers need, said Judith Johnson, former chair of the Walla Walla Watershed Management Partnership.

“What we’ve discovered is that, particularly in a drought situation like this year, there simply isn’t enough water to meet both needs,” she said.

The fact that the watershed includes stakeholders in Oregon and Washington adds an extra level of complexity. It includes the Touchet River and Mill Creek in Washington.

The Walla Walla River flows from headwaters in the mountains of Oregon through Washington, where it empties into the Columbia River near Wallula. Water availability for people, farms and fish is a problem in the summer when demand is highest, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

Adjustments need to be made to the regulatory framework to address differences in state laws, Johnson said.

“What farmers are looking for are predictability and security in their water supply,” she said.

“We have drought conditions in the Walla Walla every year; they’re just not always caused by drought, they’re caused by over-allocation,” said Chris Marks, water rights policy analyst for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. “On the Oregon side we’re over-allocated, on the Washington side we’re over-allocated. We’re over-allocated on surface water, alluvial groundwater and basalt groundwater. It’s a very tenuous situation. The urgency is only growing.”

Farmers relying on surface water could find themselves drawing water from alternate sources, Marks said.

That could be from the Columbia River or surface water reservoirs, said Scott Tarbutton, leader of the project for Ecology’s Office of the Columbia River.

The combined effort allows stakeholders to request federal, state and local funding, Tarbutton said. Costs vary depending on the strategy followed, he said, with estimates reaching up to $500 million.

“These projects are expensive,” he said. “We’re all going to need to be speaking and cheering for the same things, and asking for funding that are focused on the same strategies.”

Funding requests would likely begin in late 2022, Marks said.

The Washington Legislature allocated $3 million for the 2021-23 biennium to help fund a groundwater study on the Washington side of the watershed, continue the flow study that’s already begun and begin the move to Phase 2 of the plan, said Joye Redfield-Wilder, communications manager for Ecology.

apps.ecology.wa.gov/publications/documents/2112011.pdf