By Venice Buhain/Crosscut

Twelve Washington counties are now officially in a drought emergency, the state Department of Ecology declared this week, after early snowmelt in May, low streamflows and a lack of spring rain.

The affected counties are Benton, Clallam, Columbia, Jefferson, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan, Skagit, Snohomish, Walla Walla, Whatcom and Yakima. Drought conditions have made fish passage difficult on the Olympic Peninsula, caused wells to run dry in Whatcom County and led to crop losses and low reservoirs in Central Washington.

The state declares a drought when there is less than 75 percent of normal water supply and a risk of undue hardship, according to the Department of Ecology. The rest of the state remains under a July 5 drought advisory, which is an early warning of a possible drought.

The emergency declaration allows the state to grant emergency water-rights permits and makes $3 million in emergency funds available to help communities and public entities facing hardships due to the lack of water.

According to the state, the hot weather through May and June led to the early melting and runoff of the snowpack that supplies much of the water that flows through the state’s rivers. June was also drier than normal, with only 49 percent of normal rainfall. This water shortage is unlikely to be made up over this summer because of the warm, dry weather expected through October, according to the state.

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