Home

History

Specifications

Environment

Economics

Recreation & Tourism

Energy Production

Salmon Recovery

Agriculture

Benefits & Jobs

Archives

            The BOR used the Principle and Guidelines (P & G) analysis of National Economic Development (NED) agricultural benefits which identifies the change in net farm income associated with the irrigation water supply available related to a change in crop acreage while maintaining the same cropping patterns.  Irrigation benefits are accounted for in drought years when proration is less than seventy percent.  BOR chose to use a 23 year period 1981 through 2003 to determine benefits and used the years 1993, 1994, & 2001 to determine irrigation benefits.1

            The BOR did not include that from 1977 to 2002 there have been 7 years with prorated water less than seventy percent.2  In addition to those years, in 2005 prorated water was again reduced to below the 70% threshold.  Climate change in the Yakima River Basin, a snow meltdown basin, could cause peak stream flows to arrive earlier and reduce summer stream flows.  One study3 projects global warming would decrease the amount of water available for irrigation in the Yakima River Basin by an average of 20% to 40% in a typical year by 2050.

            The calculations presented in the Yakima River Basin Water Storage Study show the annual equivalent and present worth of irrigation benefits over the 100 year period of analysis is $86,600,000.

            The economic impact of the 2001 drought to the Yakima Basin irrigated agriculture for all three counties was estimated to be $130,434,500.  The agriculture revenue was entered into the IMPLAN models shows that the $130 million reduction in agriculture revenues contributed to a loss of $196 million in total economic output within the Yakima River Basin region.  The loss of $130 million in agriculture revenue within the Yakima Basin resulted in a total loss of nearly $226 million in total output within Washington State and a temporary loss of 4,900 jobs in 2001.4

            Using an average loss of $200 million each year over 7 out of the 25 year period when proration was less than 70% the loss would be approximately $1.4 billion dollars to our region and the state, or an average of $56 million/year.  The NPV of which for 100 years is $930,000,000 at a 6% discount rate.

1. The Yakima River Basin Water Storage Feasibility Study, Washington Nov. 2006 pg 58.
2. The Economic Impacts of Improved Water Supply Reliability in the Yakima River Basin by Northwest/Economic Associates, March 23, 2004, pg 44.
3. Climate Change and Adaptation in Irrigated Agriculture – A Case Study of the Yakima River.  Prepared by Joe Casola, Amy Stover and the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) at the University of Washington, October 2005.
4. The Economic Impacts of Improved Water Supply Reliability in the Yakima River Basin by Northwest/Economic Associates, March 23, 2004, pg 82 & 83.