SPOKANE, Wash. — The City of Spokane posted about a new campaign that urges community members to reduce their lawn watering.
The 'Go Gold to Save Blue' campaign is aimed to combat the exceptional drought the Inland Northwest is facing.
In a Facebook post, the city asked the members of the community to to work to reduce their water use alongside the city.
The post said that city facilities have reduced their irrigation and have "gone gold" at right-of-ways, fire stations and other city-owned properties.
"We can’t do it alone, please join us by reducing your lawn watering," they wrote.
Since the start of February, most of Eastern Washington has seen the record driest stretch of weather in these past five-and-a-half months. Spokane, for example, has seen less than two inches of total precipitation. But the extreme heat is now just as much a contributing factor.
The drought has resulted in hotter conditions, and the hotter conditions has resulted in an even worse drought. This is a positive feedback loop that has now resulted in the most extreme drought conditions the area has ever seen.
Comparing to 2015, while there was no exceptional drought, the next highest drought level, extreme drought, covered 85% of Washington at one point in late-August. So while the coverage of drought isn't as high as 2015, the severity is worst.
