Walla Walla's Growing Thirst
City officials begin enforcing strict sprinkling hours as a record-breaking rainfall deficiency threatens the local water supply.
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With the creeks and springs running lower than ever, Walla Walla's water supply is at a low ebb, and only by the hardest kind of work and watching the outflow with a jealous eye are the water officials able to keep the reservoirs full. Consumers who do not observe sprinkling hours are unceremoniously shut off. The existing deficiency in rainfall as reported by the local weather bureau is nearly four inches, counting from January 1. This is the greatest deficiency known in the Walla Walla valley, and its effect may plainly be seen in the diminished volume of water flowing in Mill Creek.
“Consumers who do not observe sprinkling hours are unceremoniously shut off.”
Water security remains a central political and environmental issue in the Walla Walla valley. The 1903 struggle to balance residential usage with dwindling supplies in Mill Creek highlights the early roots of the ongoing civic debate over water rights and irrigation management.
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