Yachats received .05 inches of rain in July, matching the lowest total for the month in the past 11 years.
July is usually the city’s driest of the year – averaging just a half-inch of rain. But this July matched 2018 and 2015 for the lowest amount of rainfall since 2010, as measured at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
So far this year, Yachats has received 37.2 inches of rain, about 2 inches less than the 10-year average of 39.44 inches for the first seven months of the year.
But because of a fairly wet spring, the city of Yachats’ water supply is in good shape so far this summer, said Rick McClung, who oversees the city’s water treatment plant.
The city gets its water from Salmon and Reedy creeks and only in any major emergencies, from the Yachats River. The combined flow in the two creeks is 475 gallons a minute, McClung said, above average for this time of year and well above the 275 gallons a minute when the city considers instituting some restrictions on water use.
The flow in the Yachats River is 25 cubic feet per second, well above the 15 cubic feet per second measured last July.
“We’re doing pretty good,” McClung said. “I’m pretty happy with everything.”
The city’s residents, businesses and visitors use an average of 4.5 million gallons of water a month in July and 5 million gallons in August, McClung said. Water use in June and July was about 90 percent of average, he said.