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Re: Comments on the Kittitas County 2026 Comprehensive Plan updaa ement #001
<br /> March 2, 2026
<br /> Page 11
<br /> The chapter must prioritize actions that benefit overburdened communities.
<br /> We appreciate that 10.2.2 identifies vulnerable populations, overburdened
<br /> communities, and environmental justice on pages 164 and 165. However, we did
<br /> not find any actions prioritized to benefit overburdened communities or any
<br /> policies or programs designed to benefit overburdened communities. Water
<br /> actions will be particularly important.
<br /> The chapter must address climate caused decreases in water supplies and
<br /> help address the increased demand for agricultural water supplies.
<br /> Much of Kittitas County is in Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 39.31 The
<br /> 2011 Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water Supply and Demand Forecast wrote:
<br /> The types of vulnerabilities that our region is expected to face due to
<br /> changes in water supply in the future are to some extent common
<br /> across all Washington's watersheds. These changes in supply are
<br /> driven by changes in timing of water availability within each year
<br /> and, in some watersheds, the greater variation expected between
<br /> years. However, the degree to which these changes are expected, and
<br /> the convergence of these changes in supply with expected changes in
<br /> the different demands for water are what vary across eastern
<br /> Washington's watersheds.
<br /> The WRIAs in the upper Yakima Basin (WRIAs 38 and 39) are
<br /> expected to see such convergence. These WRIAs are expected to
<br /> experience decreasing water supplies in low supply years (Figure 21),
<br /> while at the same time expecting increases in agricultural water
<br /> demand (Figure 23).33
<br /> 32 State of Washington Department of Ecology, Water Resources Program, WRIA 39 Upper Yakima
<br /> Watershed Water Availability P. 7 (Publication 20-11-039: Aug. 2023) last accessed on Feb. 16,
<br /> 2026, at: a a)s.t c . o ublic tioiis l P StimiiiarvPages/2oiio'4A.htniI and at
<br /> the link on the last page of this letter with the filename: "2011039.pdf."
<br /> 33 Hall, S.A.,Adam,J.C., Yourek, M.A., Whittemore, A.M., Yorgey, G.G., Scarpare, F., Liu, M.,
<br /> McLarty, S.,Asante-Sasu, C., McClure,S., Turk,J., Haller, D., Padowski,J., Deshar, R., Brady, M.P.,
<br /> Rajagopalan, K., Barber, M.E.,Weber, R., Stockle, C.O., Goodspeed, H.L., Gustine, R.N., Kondal, A.,
<br /> Yoder,J., Deaver, B., Downes, M., Tarbutton, S., Callahan, M., Price, P. Roberts, T., Stephens,J., and
<br /> Valdez, W., 2o2i Washington State Legislative Report: Columbia River Basin Long-Term Water
<br /> Supply and Demand Forecast P. 51 (Publication No. 21-12-oo6,Washington Department of Ecology,
<br /> Olympia,WA: 2022) last accessed on Feb. 27, 2026, at:
<br /> lit tl2s:/Japps.ecoi_Qgy.wa.gov/publ i ti nmar Pa es 211 I)t nil and at the link on the last
<br /> page of this letter with the filename: "2112oo6.pdf."
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