Just a couple of weeks ago, the supporters of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement were in Salem to sign the KBRA and celebrate their accomplishment. 

However, no one was saying the obvious: "This agreement does not produce one additional drop of water for irrigation, fish or anything else."

Those who sat at the table putting this agreement together did not include any additional off-stream and deep-water storage in the Upper Basin, which could help in the future to alleviate the situation now facing our community again.

I have never understood why all entities in our community plus the other communities along the Klamath River did not get together and promote the one thing that would really help provide a more stable water future for everyone.

Rather than provide additional water to the Basin, the KBRA permanently cuts the amount of irrigated acreage for both Project and off-Project farmers even in good water years.

It is my understanding that not only is there no storage included in the agreement, but any excess water has to stay in stream and cannot be used for storage. I thought the KBRA was supposed to benefit the whole community, or were we being misled about its purpose?

Shirley Kerns

Klamath Falls