Washington faces flooding and drought in the same year | Opinion
Water is one of the biggest issues facing our state. Eastern Washington has seen this concern for decades and recent events in Western Washington have emphasized the shared urgency to address it. It is time we all pay attention.
This fall, water was turned off to every user but one senior water right holder in the Yakima River Basin, and many farmers tore out their orchards and wine grapes because there was not enough water to grow. Drought reached into Western Washington when we saw the Snoqualmie River in a state of emergency last year because of record low flows.
Just a few months later, we saw the opposite – instead of not enough water, we had far too much, with massive flooding that devastated communities up and down the Puget Sound. More than 100,000 people faced evacuation and many tragically lost their homes and businesses. The damage to our economy and infrastructure is still being tallied but is sure to be significant.
These extreme weather events will only get worse. A changing climate means more precipitation will fall as rain instead of snow, meaning we will have too much water in the rainy season when we do not want it, and not enough water in the dry times when we desperately need it. Nature is powerful and unpredictable, but we can start to tackle this issue more comprehensively, and we should.
Too often water is a wedge issue used to pit urban environmentalists and tribal nations who seek to restore fish habitat and protect water for future generations against rural Washingtonians who need increased water access and storage to grow their crops, feed their livestock and expand their communities. There is an old saying attributed to Mark Twain that “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.” It has been rare to be able to break through the noise of political partisanship and the false eastside vs. westside debate around water in this state. The good news is, we have had successes in the past to learn from.
In 2013, Democratic Gov.J ay Inslee and Republican state Sen. Jim Honeyford struck a bargain on water in the Yakima River Basin, despite years of painful debate and litigation. As a result, we now have the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan, a collaborative agreement between tribes, farmers, environmental advocates, businesses, and every level of government to address all of the interests and challenges — agricultural irrigation, fish passage and habitat, reservoirs, and more — and bring together the funding sources to complete the planned projects to address them. This plan hasn’t “solved” the massive challenges on the Yakima, and the efforts will be ongoing. But the approach, focused on collaboration and mutual understanding, is a model for how we can start to tackle these shared issues.
Every corner of Washington is going to face a water challenge of some kind in the decades to come. The first step is to stop fighting and start talking about what each of our communities need and identify the interests and values we all share.
Today, writing together as Republican and Democratic legislators and capital budget writers, we are not naive. There will be a lot of debate and discussion. There will be projects that work and some that may not, and not everyone will agree on everything.
But we have two options on an issue foundational to the health and well-being of all Washingtonians and our incredible natural resources. One is to focus on authentic collaboration and mutual support. The other is to continue to reduce this conversation to partisan bickering that just wastes our precious time and resources, as every corner of Washington faces major water challenges ahead.
We believe that the former is the only way forward for Washington.
Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, represents District 27. Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, represents District 9.
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Washington faces flooding and drought in the same year | Opinion."