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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
Adjudication: $5,000 a day
Sorting through
Klamath Basin water rights is expensive,
complex
About $ 5,000 a day is going toward adjudication of water rights in the Klamath Basin, according to water attorney Bill Ganong.
Water users and their posses of lawyers,
researchers and hired experts are wading
through the state’s process of deciding who
gets how much water as they
await a decision from Portland-based
PacifiCorp regarding removal of four Klamath
River hydroelectric dams. A proposed water
deal, the Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement, hinges
on removal of the dams.
Adjudication is a lengthy and expensive process where irrigators, the Klamath Tribes and other entities battle for the region’s water resources.
It could be decades
before water conflicts are solved
Invaluable tribal water rights and tens of millions of dollars in property values and agricultural production are at stake.
It could be decades before
the region’s water conflicts are resolved.
Until then, water users will either settle
with their competitors or pursue legal
action against them.
“Individuals have to make the decision for themselves,” said Becky Hyde, a water user off the Klamath Reclamation Project.
The Klamath Basin adjudication process applies to any individual or agency using surface water in the Klamath River watershed, which includes the river, Upper Klamath Lake and any streams that flow into the lake.
Irrigators on and off the Klamath Reclamation Project, the Klamath Tribes and government agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are among some of adjudication’s prominent claimants.
The seniority of water rights is already established: The Tribes have the most senior rights, the newest irrigators some of the least. Adjudication seeks to define ho w much water each should get.
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml