Oregon Public Broadcasting

Snowpack is going to feed the reservoirs that will supply Eastern Washington farmers throughout the summer. That’s the word Friday from the Bureau of Reclamation.

Tom Monroe is the operations manager for the Roza Irrigation District near Yakima. Monroe says his crews are working overtime six days a week to get ready for spring.

Tom Monroe: "Yeah, we’re really busy right now. We’re burning out all the open laterals and canal and we’re finishing the piping projects we’ve been working on all winter. So we have a lot to do in the next two weeks to be ready for water."

But farmers aren’t in the clear yet. If snowpack melts too fast and the Northwest has a dry spring, irrigators could be shorted.

Droughts in past years have forced farmers to pull out orchards or leave land fallow.