Ecology launches Washington's Water Future engagement, shows wetter winters and drier summers in climate projections

The Washington State Department of Ecology used a virtual session with agricultural stakeholders to launch the Washington's Water Future initiative and present climate projections that agency staff say will reshape statewide water planning.

"Water is life," Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller told participants, framing the initiative as a listening and planning effort rather than a decision meeting. Sixkiller said the effort aims to look 30 to 50 years ahead and build collaborative, basin‑tailored solutions rather than impose immediate policy changes. "Water always finds a way," she warned, arguing that early planning can avoid being driven by crisis.

Jennifer Hennessy, special assistant to the director for the Department of Ecology, walked through modeling used by Ecology and the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group and said the state is already seeing shifts: more of the state's precipitation is falling as winter rain instead of snow, late‑summer runoff is declining, river temperatures are rising and the seasonality of water is changing. Hennessy cited projections that by mid‑century Washington will experience "snowpack drought" about 70% of the time and described basin‑level examples: winter flows in the Nooksack that models project could be roughly 45% higher while late‑summer streamflow on the Olympic Peninsula could decline 20%–40% in the coming 25 years and substantially more later this century.

Hennessy said the initiative will compile engagement input from eight regional roundtables, interest‑group listening sessions (including tribal sessions), and a public online survey, and that the team is developing an interactive online tool to allow communities to explore basin projections. She said the facilitation team will produce non‑attributed summaries of each event that will be folded into a report for the governor.

When participants asked about the provenance of the modeling and whether data would be made public, Hennessy said Ecology and the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group are collaborating on data access and that slide materials will be posted for public use. On budget concerns, she said anticipated biennial shortfalls could affect future work depending on decisions by the governor and the Legislature; she said no specific reductions had yet occurred.

Next steps include in‑person regional roundtables this summer, additional public input sessions, tribal listening sessions, publication of slide materials and the launch of the online tool this fall; the facilitation team will compile key findings and themes to inform Ecology and the governor.