Mike McClanahan

This article was first published by TVW .

An unprecedented total ban on surface water usage in the Yakima Basin shut off irrigation early and disrupted city water services this month.

For the first time, access was curtailed to even the most senior water right holder in the basin, the Yakama Nation. State regulators say the decision — which is in place through the end of October — was triggered by extended dry conditions and reservoir depletion.

“We saw historical conditions where the reservoirs in Yakima ran dry. We haven’t seen that before at this scale,” Ria Berns, the water resources program manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology, said during an interview on TVW’s “The Impact .” “The last time we saw this was about 30 years ago.”

Yakima wa

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