Some irrigators accuse water managers of creating artificial shortage 

By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Reporter

July 15, 2010

   “We don’t have a drought, never had a drought,” a Bonanza resident told state and federal officials last week during a meeting on Klamath River dam removal. “What we have is a man-made drought from the (Endangered Species Act).”

   Sada, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Klamath Falls, said people have criticized management of the region’s water resources, saying this year’s drought was intentionally created to attain certain goals.     

   But, she said, the Basin’s water shortage wasn’t intentional or avoidable.

   Some irrigators and others in agricultural communities in the river’s upper reaches have said heavy releases of water from Upper Klamath Lake during the winter for fish such as salmon left the lake at abnormally low levels.

   Precipitation and snowmelt was unable to make up the difference, heavily impacting water available for agriculture.

   Those in the river’s lower reaches have said the watershed’s management puts fish at risk for the benefit of irrigators, evidenced by the potential allocation of another 35,000 acre-feet to irrigators in addition to the projected 150,000 acre-feet from the lake.  

   Less then 50 percent

   Irrigators on the Klamath Reclamation Project are expected to receive less than 50 percent of their typical water allotment this year because of the shortage. River flows for fish also have been reduced to correspond to dry conditions.

   The Hoopa Valley Tribe said in a press release that despite California’s above average rainfall, the river is being managed under extreme drought conditions. The lake, they said,   was drained to its absolute minimal level last year, and government officials hoped it would be filled by winter precipitation.

   “That’s not good trust management; it is gambling with our trust resources,” said Mike Orcutt, Hoopa Tribal fisheries director. “What they’re doing is creating an artificial drought for the river, while still delivering water to the Klamath Irrigation Project.”

   Government agencies, though, say the drought and resulting water shortage are naturally occurring.

   The Natural Resources Conservation Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lists the Basin’s snowpack at 83 percent of average for the current water year. The region is one of only two watersheds in Oregon with a water year below 90 percent of average.  

   Conditions to remain

   According to data from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Basin’s drought conditions are abnormal to moderate, and those conditions are expected to remain through the irrigation season.

   “It is Reclamation’s perspective that this is a natural drought and could not have been avoided,” said Kevin Moore, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s office in Klamath Falls.

   Sada said more water was sent down the Klamath River this winter than in previous winters to obey a court order regarding   flows for endangered fish species.

   Despite that, mid-winter water year forecasts indicated it would be a tough year regardless of those releases.

   “This year was very much an unforeseen situation,” she said.

   Sada said part of the difficulty lies in the biological opinion used to manage the river.

   Officials are meeting minimum flow requirements for endangered fish species while providing some water to irrigators. But, she added, the current management is restrictive, and agencies are working on a new biological opinion that would be more adaptive and flexible to Basin’s conditions.