Adjudicating Water

A quick guide to what this means   

   After 36 years and more than 700 claims and 5,000 contests, the Klamath Basin adjudication process only has about six more claims to settle.

   In a proposed order last week, a judge confirmed the Klamath Tribes’ claims to water in the Sprague, Sycan, Williamson and Wood rivers and their tributaries. Once the final determination is settled, the order, whatever form it takes, becomes enforceable.

   What does that mean for people in the Klamath Basin?

   Non-irrigators:  Adjudication does not affect well water, and the Oregon Water Resources Department does not require groundwater permits for domestic wells or small agricultural uses, such as trough water. Surface irrigation water is not regulated for lawns or gardens up to one-half an acre.

   On-Project irrigators:  Water rights claims on upstream reaches don’t affect irrigators on the Klamath Reclamation Project, and could actually be beneficial, since the confirmed claims require flows that are higher than what is currently in the rivers. Those rivers feed Upper Klamath Lake, which must meet a minimum water level for irrigators to receive full water deliveries.

   However, the proposed order for the Tribes’ claims on Upper Klamath Lake and Klamath River, to be ruled on in April, likely will affect the Project’s water.

   Off-Project irrigators:  Irrigators above Upper Klamath Lake are most affected by the recent proposed orders.

   The Oregon Water Resources Department could not enforce water rights until they were adjudicated, so irrigators in the area have been able to pump without restriction. But once the final determination is made, the Tribes may call their water rights and pumps will be shut off, starting with the most junior water rights, until their rightful flows are met.

   Irrigators with junior rights will either go without water or use well water.

   Klamath Tribes:  While the proposed order still needs to go through an appeals and confirmation process, the Klamath Tribes received validation for their water claims after decades of contentious court battles.

   Officials say the final determination will likely reflect the proposed order. That will give the Tribes power to act on their time immemorial priority date and call their water right when they deem it necessary to maintain fish and wildlife habitats for hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering rights guaranteed by the treaty of 1894.