Tom Paul and Ivan Gall from Oregon Water Resources Department visit with a crowd of 70 Farmers and Ranchers of the Klamath Basin. February 20, 2018. (Brian Gailey) — Tom Paul and Ivan Gall from Oregon Water Resources Department visit with a crowd of 70 Farmers and Ranchers of the Klamath Basin. February 20, 2018. (Brian Gailey)

“This morning the Klamath County Commissioners declared a drought for Klamath County.

This is the first in the process to get the government to start moving it up the chain.

We did that today, it will get passed up to the governor today and her people will start moving it from there.”

— Donnie Boyd, Klamath County Commissioner

Audio Recording of the Meeting

Klamath Falls, Ore. - Close to 70 people attended a Klamath Project Contractors meeting at the Klamath County Fairgrounds held by, the Tom Paul & Ivan Gall from the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD), Scott White, Executive Director of the Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) and Klamath County Commissioner, Donnie Boyd.

This meeting was intended to bring contractors of the Klamath Reclamation Project current information about the 2018 Irrigation season. The meeting began with introductions by Commissioner Boyd and remarks about a drought declaration from the commissioners this morning [2/20/18].

Commissioner Boyd addresses the crowd about how the Klamath County Commissioners declared a drought in the County - Beginning the process to get the government to start moving on the issue. Feb. 20, 2018 (Brian Gailey)

"I think 2018 is going to be a hard year for everyone," stated Donnie Boyd, Klamath County Commissioner. "The County has been working very closely with the water users, the OWRD...and the Bureau of Reclamation.

"This morning the Klamath County Commissioners declared a drought for Klamath County. This is the first in the process to get the government to start moving it up the chain," stated Commissioner Boyd. "We did that today, it will get passed up to the governor today and her people will start moving it from there."

Hydrology

Scott White continued the meeting discussing current hydrology, possible options available, and the process for taking advantage of those options is important information for district and on-farm operations.

"We are not in a good spot with snow pack right now," states White. "The snow pack is what gets us through the summer as it melts off and those inflows remain consistent as they come into the lake."

"For the Project a full delivery is 390,000 acre feet...as of February 2018 we are looking for a forecasted inflow of 270,000 acre feet, that kind of gives you an idea of what we may be expecting this year," continues White. "Please keep in mind we have lake levels and biological opinion that need to be met. We have an injunction that has been placed upon us where more water is required to go down stream as a result of litigation of downstream tribes."

The KWUA is considering all options when it comes to water delivery and ideas for better water delivery. "Were thinking about everything we possibly can to try and mitigate impacts to all of you. That's working with Reclamation closely to come up with ideas. Possible sources of water we could use to get us going and get us through the year," states White.

“We are all ears at this point, if you guys have ideas to maximize deliveries to the project I will want to hear them. We can’t think of it all, so if you guys have ideas, please let me know. I want to hear from you and I mean that sincerely.”

— Scott White, Executive Director, KWUA

Questions were raised about the use of water from Howard Prairie and Fourmile Lake heading to the Rogue Valley and not the Klamath Basin as these lake sources were originally part of the Klamath River Watershed.

"The complications of competing regions would be the biggest thing as far as to why it has not been done in the past," responded White. "Granted, you are exactly right. That is Klamath Water but it is managed by the Pacific Northwest Region and so I think that has been a complication in the past."

SUPPLEMENTAL Ground Water

Finally representatives Tom Paul & Ivan Gall from the Oregon Water Resources Department spoke about; supplemental ground water rights, pumping ground water under a drought permits, and water use transfer process specific to the Project area.

"In the Project area there is about 41,000 acres of land that are covered, by what we call supplemental ground water rights," states Ivan Gall, Oregon Water Resources Department.

Supplemental ground water rights allow users to pump water from a well to their acreage. This may be used as a primary source or in addition to surface water use. "Supplemental permits are very specific, they cover a certain number of acres, in a certain location, from specific well(s). There may be conditions associated with it [permit], like your well needs to have a meter on it," explains Gall.

Under a Governor declared drought, division nineteen rules will kick in. There are several tool within this section of rules allow users to come up with supplemental sources of water under the Governor declared drought, such as emergency drought permits from wells.

"Those emergency drought permits from wells, are going to be only for acres that already have an existing water right on them. In this case, it would be the primary water right from the determined claim in the Project irrigation," explains Gall. "You can't take land that has been typically dry land farmed and get an get an Emergency Drought Permit. If it does not have an existing water right on it, we would not allow that."

What is Next?

"The Bureau of Reclamation will have a meeting the second week of March. They are going to have the current water forecast at that time," states Boyd.

The goal of today's meeting was to keep the districts and Project patrons as informed as possible about the 2018 season. Information outlined today, is however, subject to change based on an official statement coming from the Bureau of Reclamation in March.

Much information was discussed, more than what is reported here. Be sure to listen to an audio recording of the meeting at the top of the page for a complete recap.

For more information on the Oregon Water Resource Department visit, http://www.oregon.gov/OWRD/Pages/index.aspx

For more information on Klamath Water Users Association visit, http://www.kwua.org/home.html