Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) is collecting information from irrigators in the Yakima Basin to refine their economic drought assessment for the 2024 and 2025 drought events. Alongside their partners at University of California Merced, they developed an anonymous survey to help refine their modeling estimates to best reflect real life scenarios. Please take a moment to complete this survey. It will take approximately 10 – 15 minutes to complete. It includes questions about crops grown, the yield and quality impacts of drought in 2024 and 2025, and related decision making. The results from this project will help them communicate the magnitude of economic impacts to educate our decision makers and advocate for investing in drought resilience projects in the Yakima Basin.

After three consecutive drought years, planning ahead matters more than ever. This spring newsletter highlights water outlooks, fallowing opportunities, and system investments designed to support SVID growers.

Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District will open the head gate on the Sunnyside Division Dam on Wednesday March 18, 2026, to begin canal priming. Due to the time, it takes for the water delivery system to fill, many water users closer to the main canals may have access earlier depending upon their location along the canal system. Priming the entire system will take priority over water deliveries. This means the water surface elevation in the Sunnyside Canal may not be high enough to make deliveries until the system is primed. The canal priming will continue throughout the next two weeks. SVID anticipates that irrigation water will be available to all water users by request by April 1, 2026. Tentative Priming Schedule: Head Gate Wednesday March 18, 2026 Lower Division Friday March 20, 2026 Snipes Lateral, Mabton Monday March 23, 2026 30.20, 23.10, 39.79 and 48.04 Tuesday March 24, 2026 Prosser, 49.71 and others as needed Wednesday March 25, 2026 All dates are subject to change due to weather and unanticipated circumstances.

Enrollment for the Program will run from March 16-27, 2026, and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis at 1105 Yakima Valley Highway. Participants will be paid $350 per acre-foot of water enrolled in the program. Growers interested in participating should contact the SVID office to confirm eligibility requirements. Call (509) 837-6980 for more information.

By setting up an online account, you can quickly and easily manage your irrigation account, view your water usage history, make payments, and more. Our online portal is available 24/7, making it convenient for you to access your irrigation information whenever and wherever you need it. To set up your account, simply click the button below to start the process.