Creating a water solution  

By LEE JUILLERAT 

H&N Regional Editor

July 27, 2010

     It sounds too good to be true: a plan that, if all goes as Edgar Viets envisions, would solve the Klamath Basin’s water storage woes, create increased waterfowl and bird habitat, help clean Upper Klamath Lake and spur new recreational possibilities.

   What Viets proposes is a virtual lake within a lake by building a three-mile wide by seven- to eight mile-long dike along the west side of Upper Klamath Lake, generally from Wocus Bay, near where Inside: Highway 140 begins to climb Doak Mountain, north to Bare Island.

   “What I’m trying to do is salvage the extra water we’re not   using,” said Viets, a Klamath Falls chiropractor and former farmer, of a plan he devised about three years ago. “If you have excess water, you store it.”

   Above the lake

   His idea is to build a 50-foot-wide dike that rises 40 feet higher than Upper Klamath Lake. During winter and spring months, when excess water normally flows down the Link River into Lake Ewauna and into the Klamath River, that extra water would be pumped into the lake within the lake and held as storage.

   Based on figures he obtained from various sources, including the Bureau of Reclamation and an Oregon State University study, he said it would take several years to fill the enclosure capable of holding about 400,000 cubic feet of water.     

   That’s about the total volume of water needed annually by Klamath Project irrigators and the network of Klamath Basin national wildlife refuges. According to one study, during a 10-year period more than 3.7 million acre feet of excess water went downstream.

   Viets said he selected the area for his projected 10,240-acre inner lake because it is away from existing residential or other developments and includes an area of natural springs that help fill the lake.

   He said dirt for the dike could come from excavating hills just east of the lake’s eastern shore and Highway 97, where the Oregon Department of Transportation is currently widening the two-lane road and dealing with rock fall problems.  

   Viets believes a conveyor could be built from the cliffs over Highway 97 and the railroad tracks to the lake, where the removed dirt would be loaded onto barges. He said the process would be less expensive and safer than using large trucks.

   Second phase

   As a second phase, he envisions building a second wall of lower walled dikes 1,400 feet outside the first dike. The area between the dikes would be filled with sludge dredged from Upper Klamath Lake. Depending on the height of the second dike, he estimates 65 million to 100 million yards of sludge would be removed, deepening the lake anywhere from 3 to 6 feet. Dredging would be done only from the lower half of the lake.

   Viets said the dikes could be developed for hiking and bicycling, with areas designed as habitat for waterfowl, bald eagles and other wildlife.

   As to concerns about the dike being a visual eyesore, he said the dikes in the area of the Skillethandle, near the Running Y Resort, are 30 feet tall and are little noticed. He also believes concerns could be lessened by using serpentine designs and by planting trees, shrubs and bushes.

   Viets estimates cost of the work at about $300 million. He said the cost of the project should include a portion from ODOT for helping to improve Highway 97, which would have a reduced rock fall threat and might be eventually widened to four lanes. Additional funds could come from federal grants and farmers.  

   He believes his proposal is superior to plans to use Long Lake for storage and projects by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire lands to increase the lake storage, because evaporation annually reduces the lake level by about 2 feet. His proposal would not increase the lake surface, but would add capacity by increasing the amount of water stored.

   “I just have a hard time figuring what’s hard about doing it,” said Viets, who met with officials from the Klamath Falls Bureau of Reclamation office three years ago but has not received a response.