Dry conditions in eastern Washington are leading to some curtailment of water use for junior water rights holders.
Junior rights holders are defined as those who have gained water rights from a creek or river to irrigate their land since 1976, when a law was passed to protect senior water users.
By law, they are obligated to stop using water after the waterway reaches a certain level defined as minimum in-stream flows.
The Little Spokane River is well below those minimums. So are Marshall Creek in the Hangman drainage, which is almost completely dry, and Cow Creek, the outlet to Sprague Lake, which is dry.
It's not unusual for this to happen, but Jaime Short of the Department of Ecology says it's been happening with more frequency in recent years.
"You know on the Little Spokane, we were doing curtailment historically maybe one out of every four or five years. Since my time with the program, which has been a little over 10 years, we're getting to every other year, or every year, so the frequency is increasing," she said.
Junior water rights holders in those basins below minimum in-stream flows have now been sent letters directing them to shut off their pumps of surface water from those waterways. Short says the agency is not looking to shut off a user if the household is using the water as a sole source drinking water supply. They're more concerned about using the water for lawn or garden irrigation.
Many in the Little Spokane have a backup water source, like the Whitworth Water District or a separate well. Fines can be issued if someone is found in violation of the curtailment.