Yakima, Washington Water Outage Today

Yakima tap water system, by the numbers

City of Yakima Water Division is the water system EPA lists for Yakima, serving about 112,858 people. Customers know it as City of Yakima Water; the name on your bill is the one to call.

Where Yakima's tap water comes from

Yakima drinks surface water. City of Yakima Water Division draws it from Naches River WTP and treats it before it goes into the distribution system. Treatment points named in EPA's facility list include Naches River WTP.

Why this matters when the water stops. Because the water is drawn from open surface sources, it has to be filtered and disinfected continuously. A plant problem therefore hits everyone at once, unlike a main break, which only dries up the blocks on either side of the damaged pipe. EPA lists 2 emergency connections to neighboring systems, which can be opened to move water across a boundary during a failure.

Main breaks and shutoffs in Yakima: the usual causes

Water outages are local, so the likely cause depends on weather, pipe age and the grid. For Yakima, these stand out.

• Freezing weather. Yakima sees about 133 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, and 23 days at or below 20°F. The coldest morning in the 2015 through 2025 record came on January 13, 2024. The longest stretch with highs that never rose above freezing ran 17 days, ending January 17, 2017. Frost pushes into shallow service lines first. Mains follow when the ground heaves and thaws, which is why break counts climb a day or two after the temperature swings.
• Older neighborhoods and pipe. 45.8% of occupied homes in Yakima were built before 1970, against 35.5% nationally. Streets of that age tend to sit on cast iron and early steel mains that are near or past their design life, which is where most breaks start.
• Long dry spells. The longest stretch without measurable rain since 2015 lasted 54 days, ending August 11, 2017. Dry soil shrinks and shifts around buried pipe, and breaks often cluster when the rain returns and the ground swells again.
• Flooding and heavy rain. NOAA logged 13 flood, flash flood and heavy rain reports in Yakima County from 2015 through 2026. Floodwater can undercut pipe crossings, swamp pump stations and overload treatment plants, and a notice to boil water often follows when it enters the system.
• Damage from other crews. Water mains share the ground with gas, power and telecom lines, and a strike by any contractor can dry up a block in seconds.
• One-address problems. A closed valve, a meter swap or a failed regulator can leave a single house dry. Compare notes with a neighbor first; if they have water too, start with your own plumbing.

Yakima weather and water-main stress, 2015–2025

Main break season in Yakima runs from late fall into early spring, with the coldest stretch around December through February.

Because this is gridded reanalysis data, individual hot and cold days can read a few degrees off what the airport recorded. The day counts and yearly patterns are the useful part.

Boil water advisories and the federal violation record for Yakima

EPA lists no health-based violations for City of Yakima Water Division since 2015. It also lists 3 monitoring or reporting entries that are about paperwork rather than water quality, such as a missed sample or a late report.

Most recent entries, all monitoring or reporting:

• July 2024: A late or missing annual water quality report It is marked resolved.
• January 2020: A missed or late monitoring or reporting requirement (chemical and radiological contaminants) It is marked resolved.

When Yakima loses pressure after a break or a failed test, City of Yakima Water asks affected customers to boil water for drinking and cooking. The notice ends only after samples come back clean, which usually takes one to two days after service returns, and the Washington State Department of Health Office of Drinking Water supervises the process.

What the lead tests and housing age say about Yakima

The most recent 90th-percentile lead result filed for City of Yakima Water Division is 0 ppb (2024). The federal action level is 15 ppb, so that result is comfortably below it.

The age of the housing matters more than the utility's test average: 45.8% of occupied homes in Yakima predate 1970 and 1986 was the year lead pipe and solder were banned. Flush the cold tap after an outage and ask City of Yakima Water whether your service line is on its lead inventory.

How long a water outage lasts in Yakima

A crew that arrives at an ordinary main break in Yakima usually needs 4 to 8 hours to isolate the pipe, dig, repair, flush and restore pressure. Large transmission mains, deep pipes and breaks under busy streets can take a day or more.

City of Yakima Water will post an estimated restoration time for a break that affects many customers; ask for the repair crew's estimate when you call.

How much water to keep on hand in Yakima

The average household in Yakima has about 2.7 people, so FEMA's minimum of one gallon per person per day comes to roughly 8 gallons for three days and 38 gallons for two weeks.

• 16.4% of residents report a disability (US 13.3%), so check on neighbors who rely on running water for medical equipment.
• 5.3% of homes are mobile or manufactured homes, whose pipes are more exposed to freezing and have less room for a water heater tank as backup.
• A standard water heater is a ready-made 40-gallon reserve. Shut off its power or gas, open a hot tap somewhere in the house, and draw from the drain valve.
• Fill a tub or large containers early for toilets, cleaning and handwashing, and store drinking water separately in clean bottles.

How Yakima compares with nearby water systems

Water outage pages for nearby cities

Kent, WA · Renton, WA · Tacoma, WA · Bellevue, WA