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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 29SOCIETYWrung Dry
The usually rainy Pacific Northwest is learning to live with
less water
Wet weather is such an inescapable part of life in the
Pacific Northwest that the Seattle tourism industry touts it as
"liquid sunshine." This year, though, the slogan will have to be
shelved in the face of the worst regionwide drought in decades.
Along with other legendarily soaked cities like Portland, Ore.,
and Vancouver, B.C., Seattle has imposed water restrictions,
urging citizens to take shorter showers and banning the use of
lawn sprinklers. The lush, green vegetation has begun to turn
brown. Mule deer does are having trouble finding enough food in
the woods to produce milk for their fawns. The spring chinook
salmon run on Oregon's Rogue River had the largest die-off level
in 15 years, attributed in part to low water levels. The
situation is worst in Oregon, whose drought is expected to be
the most severe in 120 years.
Some smaller cities and towns in the region are less
affected because they get their water from wells. The big cities
get theirs, though, from snow melting off the Cascade Range to
the east. Not only was precipitation less than normal last
winter, but temperatures were warmer. Much of the snow fell as
rain and ran off right away, at a time when city reservoirs
were full anyway.