KBRA includes possibility of off-stream storage  

Letter to the Editor

April 29, 2010

   I would like to commend Shirley Kerns for thinking about water storage in the Klamath Basin. She is in good company.

   The Bureau of Reclamation has been investigating off-stream storage for years and has completed additional levels of studies related to Long Lake becoming a storage area. However, storage alone will not adequately address the water supply problem.

   Over the last decade, under the current regulatory regime, there would only have been “excess” water in perhaps one of those 10 years.

   Storage can work and be a huge help, but only if it is part of a more comprehensive program such as the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. If Long Lake were built today, without any other changes, we would have two big holes to fill instead of one.  

   Off-stream storage is included in section 18.3 of the KBRA, “Future Storage Opportunities.”

   Parties are currently undertaking the requirements outlined in this section. Working together with others in the Klamath Basin, we hope to see additional water storage become a reality. The signing of the KBRA has greatly increased the chances of this happening.

   I regret Kerns has been misinformed about the KBRA’s provisions. The KBRA does benefit the whole community, both on- and off-Project.

   The purpose is to find balance through collaboration and communication with our neighbors in the watershed. That does involve compromise, but compromise does not mean defeat. A balance had to be struck, and the result will be far better than the management decisions which have led us to our current water situation.

   If you ask me, that’s a drop in the bucket we didn’t have before.  

Weston Walker

Vice President of Sales Gold Dust Potato Processors Inc