July
20, 2006
Farmers and ranchers are using groundwater wells for irrigation, and
Klamath County officials are worried the use will deplete resources in an
otherwise good water year.
The Basin has a chance to recharge its aquifers this year, county
commissioners said, and they questioned the management of the region’s
water resources.
The region is 3 inches above normal for precipitation since last October,
but water levels at Upper Klamath Lake were below normal in June.
Because of the lake level, the Bureau of Reclamation restricted the use of
surface water to 37 irrigators, who are using groundwater instead.
Officials from the Bureau of Reclamation didn’t return calls for
comment. But Barry Norris of the Oregon Water Resources Department told
commissioners at a meeting Tuesday that surface water must be restricted
to maintain Klamath River flows mandated by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the Endangered Species Act.
Commissioners John Elliott and Bill Brown said they couldn’t understand
why the wells were being used when three times more water this year than
last year was being sent down the river. It is a plus year for
precipitation, and the opportunity should be taken to recharge the aquifer
as much as possible, they said.
“It begs credibility,” Elliott said.
A good precipitation year doesn’t relieve the Bureau of Reclamation of
its obligation to the river, Norris said. Flow levels must be maintained
for endangered coho salmon and other fish species.
Because the Bureau restricted surface water to the 37 irrigators, those
irrigators can use supplemental rights to pump ground water for
irrigation, Norris said, adding that the 37 were selected because use of
their wells would have the least impact.
Elliott also said he is concerned landowners could abuse the situation.
Selling water is more profitable than leasing land, he said, and
questioned whether irrigators were using more water than permitted and
then selling it.
Norris said the state wasn’t aware of any irrigator selling pumped
groundwater. Irrigators are required to have meters on their pumps, and
they are checked.
“We haven’t found anybody out of their duty yet,” he said.
Worries that the aquifer is slowly being depleted still concerned the
commissioners.
Elliott said Klamath Falls City Manager Jeff Ball told him there were no
trace radioactive elements in any groundwater being pumped. That is a sign
that the water is
at least 60 years old and was in the ground before nuclear tests in
Nevada, he said.
Brown said the state should be more careful with its water resources, and
the aquifer should be beyond the reach of any commitment to river flows.
The county must protect its agriculture, and the state should involve the
county in any future water decisions, he said.
“This could have been a year we could recharge and we’re pumping,”
he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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
