By TY BEAVER

H&N Staff Reporter

October 1, 2010

   Editor’s note: This is one in an ongoing series of stories about various issues with the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and how it might impact local residents. County residents will vote this coming general election on an advisory measure concerning the KBRA and dam removal agreement.

   Some argue feasibility studies aren’t complete, there wouldn’t be enough water to fill a new storage facility, or the cost of building new storage would be far too much in relation to its value.     

   Construction of additional water storage in the Basin has been discussed for years, with proponents saying it could help meet water demand for fish and irrigators. Voters should care because meeting that demand could mean fewer years where water users go without water due to shortages. Fewer water shortages means more stability in the local agricultural economy.

   Federal officials still are considering building such a facility, specifically at Long Lake, but the process is separate from the implementation of the KBRA, leaving those desiring more water storage waiting and hoping.

   “(Long Lake) would be a true water bank,” Switzer said.

   Authorities considered Aspen, Round and Long lakes northwest of Klamath Falls for water storage decades ago. Early proposals called for linking the lakes but studies showed the lakes couldn’t store as much water as necessary.

   Long Lake valley

   The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the last few years has begun studies looking at the Long Lake valley alone as a storage facility. It would have a much smaller surface area than Upper Klamath Lake, and authorities have said it could hold approximately the same amount of water — between 390,000 and 420,000 acre-feet — after some modification.

   Switzer acknowledged the project would be expensive and that it wouldn’t solve all the issues surrounding water in the Basin. However, being able to put water aside every few years would be worthwhile, he said, especially when considering the $600 million agriculture pumps into the regional economy each year.

   “It isn’t foolproof but it makes a lot of sense,” he said.  

Side Bar

Some hurdles to conversion of valley   

   Jon Hicks with the Bureau of Reclamation said there are hurdles to converting the Long Lake valley into water storage. He and others are conducting economics studies, and there is a concern the project would cost too much even with the benefits considered.