Dry spots remain across Northwest

Growing number of farms rely on underground aquifers

Mateusz Perkowski
Capital Press
March 19, 2009

Oregon is entering spring with a 100 percent statewide average snowpack, but not all irrigators in the state are faring equally well.

Recent storms have brought overall snowpack levels up to average in just the past couple of weeks, said Jon Lea, snow survey supervisor with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"Winter's not ready to release its grip," said Lea. "Winter is still prevalent up in the mountains."

A number of Oregon basins are exceeding the average, he said.

The Hood, Sandy and Lower Deschutes basin tops the list with snowpack levels at 34 percent above average, according to NRCS.

With snowpack levels at 18 percent above average, the Willamette basin comes in at second place, while the Upper Deschutes and Crooked basin is a distant third with snowpack levels at 4 percent above average.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Harney basin is facing the lowest snowpack levels in the state, at 21 percent below average. (Coast Range measurements are not reliable.)

The Lake County and Goose Lake basin has the second-lowest snowpack, at 18 percent below average, and the Owyhee has the third-lowest, at 13 percent below average.

However, the Harney basin faces an additional disadvantage that aggravates the low snowpack level, said Ivan Gall, region manager for eastern Oregon with the state's Water Resources Department.

Unlike several other areas with below-average snowpack levels, the Harney Basin doesn't have any large, managed water reservoirs, said Gall.

"They're at the mercy of Mother Nature and need to use the water when it shows up," he said.

A growing number of people in the region rely on underground aquifers for irrigation, said Gall.

"People with supplemental or primary groundwater rights really won't know the difference," he said.

Overall, water reservoirs throughout Oregon are 29 percent below average, said Lea.

That's not good news, but at 1.5 million acre feet, the stored water supply is still a bit better than it was last year at 1.3 million acre feet, he said.

On the bright side, soil saturation throughout the state is decent, which will reduce the amount of runoff that is absorbed into the ground, Lea said.

All in all, the water year is shaping up to be fairly mediocre, he said. "People will need to pay attention to their water management skills."