Herald and News Editorial: Basin needs dike inspection program

Basin needs dike inspection program

July 25, 2006

Klamath Falls Herald and News Editorial

If anything good has come from the dike break along Highway 140 northwest of Klamath Falls, it's the sudden increase in interest in establishing who is responsible for maintaining dikes in the area. The situation calls for establishment of a functioning inspection program.

Major dike failures have occurred over the years, but are so few that the subject disappears from the public radar for decades at a time.

After Upper Klamath Lake undercut the dike in June and water poured through a 200-foot gap and closed Highway 140, a lot of people and agencies wound up looking at each other and wondering who was going to step forward and accept responsibility.

Even if it hasn't been totally clear who has the legal responsibility to maintain all of the dikes, it is clear that a lot of people depend on them.

The Geary break flooded 2,000 acres, cost a farmer his crop and equipment, and flooded part of the golf course at the Running Y Ranch Resort. Damage will run into the millions of dollars and it may take a judge to sort out who is responsible for what.

Upper Klamath has 45 miles of dikes on it, and there are dikes elsewhere in the Klamath Basin.

In general, responsibility for maintenance of the dikes rests with the owners of the land they're on, but when the Herald and News contacted owners for stories that appeared Sunday, some owners were unclear as to just what their responsibilities are. Sunday's stories also included a story about the Tule Lake dike where responsibility is clearly invested in the Westside Improvement District and is actively managed. That's the way it should be done.

In a touch of irony, a meeting had been set for June 15, about a week before the Geary break to respond to a request by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the dikes' vulnerability.

There appears plenty to do. There isn't even a good list of the dike owners, and when one is finally put together, the owners need to be contacted and told exactly what their responsibilities are.

There also isn't an overall inspection program. The Corps of Engineers will do the inspections for free - but someone has to ask and nobody has.

Considering the importance of the dikes to such people and organizations as irrigators, land owners, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Klamath Reclamation Project, the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, PacifiCorp and Indian tribes, there should be enough interest to get inspections started and keep them going.

Editorial board

Pat Bushey wrote today's editorial, which represents the view of the Herald and News editorial board.