The changes and improvements made this year, farmers and irrigation officials say, will help water users fight drought in the future.

   Farmers and ranchers who survive droughts, such as the one that gripped the Klamath Basin this growing season, often end up stronger for it.

   “Every drought we go through, it seems like we get better at it,” said Luther Horsley, a Midland-area farmer.

   This year, Horsley terraced some of his fields to allow slower, more even water distribution.  

   He converted other fields from flood irrigation to more efficient spray irrigation, and he installed piping along another field that will distribute water more efficiently than the irrigation canal it replaced.

   “Conservation practices always leverage you against future droughts,” he said.

   Area farmers and irrigation officials say droughts will always mean hardship for irrigators, but strategies implemented this year to get the most out of water could leave the Basin better equipped to weather future water shortages.  

   • “You’ve got to be an optimist to do this. It’s in my blood. I’m 58 years old. What am I going to do? Quit? It’s what we do. We gotta keep rolling,” says John Walker, co-owner of Walker Brothers and Gold Dust Potato Processors. A11.

   • “It was a royal pain in the ... it was a stressful year. But we got through it and could pay our bills, and that’s a good   thing,” says Donnie Heaton, a Merrill-area farmer. A9

   • The agricultural economy favored most Basin farmers this year. A10

   • Tom Mallams, an off-Project irrigator and president of the Klamath Off-Project Water Users, calls this year’s drought political, but a Bureau of Reclamation official disagrees, saying drought conditions were real.     

   “I do think we are a little better prepared, but I don’t think that makes it any easier,” said Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association.

   Throughout the Basin this year, irrigators looking to fill dry irrigation ditches dug new wells, deepened existing ones and repaired old ones. Increased access to well water will help irrigators in the future, said Mark Stuntebeck, Klamath Irrigation District manager.

   “There is more groundwater available now … and we figured out how to put it to pretty good use,” he said.

   Farmer Steve Kandra relied on well water this year after he did not receive surface water for his Klamath Reclamation Project land. He was able to irrigate about 80 percent of his fields and idled the rest.  

   Still, he said, he does not think the Basin can rely on groundwater for consecutive years, as continuous pumping could siphon too much water out of area aquifers.

   “We just can’t work the system the way we did in 2010 and expect to make it through 2011,” he said.

   In early July, the water table near Merrill dropped below the city’s well pump, leaving residents without water for several days. The city had to drop its well pumps from 70 feet beneath the ground to 110 feet.

   Horsley, who idled about 450 acres of his 2,300-acre operation, agreed that using groundwater is helpful during dry years, but not a permanent solution.

   “I think using wells is a stop-gap,” he said. “I don’t think we can use them every year.”  

   Stuntebeck said water users in the Klamath Irrigation District worked together this year to ensure they used water in the most efficient ways.

   “Our farmers learned how important it is to stay in communication with the folks delivering water to them,” he said. “They did a pretty good job this year of staying in communication about when they needed water and when they were done with it.”

   Addington said he had better communication this year with the Klamath Tribes and other water users about how to stretch the little available water among stakeholders. This type of cooperation, he said, would not have happened in years past.

   Still, conservation practices, wells and better communication are no substitute for a good water year.  

   Horsley said he watches Upper Klamath Lake levels, hoping to see the reservoir filled early in the winter. Kandra said he monitors the weather closely, hoping for heavy snowpack in the mountains that drains into the Klamath Basin.

   Klamath Falls has received 4.24 inches of precipitation since September, slightly above the 3.97-inch average for that time period.

   Addington said recent snow and rain storms are good signs, but it is still too early to predict how good the water year will be. Last year, rain and snow fell early but mostly ceased by January and February, which Addington said are the most important months for increasing snowpack and water levels.

   “Everybody is sort of holding their breath because last year it seemed to tease us, too,” he said.