|
4/10/06
- Rain, Rain go away,
come again another day. The weatherman is
predicting that the only day this week
without rain and snow showers here in the
Upper Klamath Basin will be Thursday.
Klamath Basin Precipitation as
Measured at the Klamath Falls Airport
Precipitation 24 hours
to 7 p.m., Sunday
4/9 0.16
Precipitation April 1 -
9 0.55
Normal precipitation April 1 -
9 0.26
Since Jan
1, 2006 6.88
Normal since Jan
1 4.29
Since Oct 1,
2005 13.58
Normal since Oct
1 9.35
What all this extra moisture means down
river is shown in this weeks
USGS Flow Graphs. The Klamath
Project A Canal headgates were opened
last Friday, April 7th but with high
ground moisture from the Spring
precipitation, farmers are not needing
irrigation water at this time. Every
refuge is full, Gerber Reservoir
is spilling water into Lost River,
and Clear Lake water elevation is
slowing rising.
We posed the following question to the
Christine Karas, Acting Manager of the
Klamath Area Office of the Bureau of
Reclamation:
Large amounts of water are leaving the
Upper Basin - are these flows counted
towards the 2006 mandated 100,000
acre-feet Water Bank?
Ms. Karas' answer:
"The reservoir is filled according to a
flood control curve. Excess water
cannot be stored because when the runoff
comes you need space in the lake to put
it, and don't want uncontrolled spill
flooding the area downstream of the dam.
Water bank accounting, under phase I and
II flows in the BO, began on April 1 so
anything that went down before that
would not count. Water that was
scheduled by NOAA as water bank
water, that is, water in excess of the
base flow requirement, would be counted
toward the water bank regardless if it
was spill water, or pumped or whatever,
up to volume scheduled by NOAA. We have
not had a spill yet this year.
But, all this is now a moot point anyway
because Judge Armstrong's order put us
in Phase III. Phase III requires a
given amount of release based on water
year type. If we have sufficient inflow
to keep the lake up, meet irrigation
demand and the releases, you don't
need to use any water bank water. The
water bank in Phase III is to meet
all Project purposes - not just to
supplement downstream flows. If we do
not need all of the water bank's 100,000
AF to meet all Project purposes, we
don't have to use it. In phase I and II
we had to provide 100,000 AF above base
no matter what."
|
