February 5, 2024

Klamath Water Users Association

Restoration Projects and Activities within the Klamath Project

“Restoration” of the Klamath Project can fundamentally be tied to the act of moving water through the Project to achieve multiple benefits for agriculture, fish and wildlife, and the environment.  This capability is epitomized by the concept of “flow through.”

More than two decades of federal water management has effectively “dried up the sponge” that the land within the Klamath Project naturally constitute.  Districts and individual water users are engaged in a range of activities intended to update management and “rehydrate” that sponge – rehydrate the Klamath Project – through innovative and modern ways of moving water.  During the 2024 through 2027 period, subject to the availability of adequate water supplies, districts are prepared to demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of “flow through” in terms of providing water supplies to irrigation, Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges, facilitating groundwater recharge, supporting sucker rearing and recovery, sustaining migratory waterfowl and shorebirds in the Pacific Flyway, and improving water quality in the Klamath River. 

To deliver and maintain these benefits over the long-term, districts need to take proactive steps to upgrade infrastructure, improve water measurement and water quality monitoring, investigate alternative water management strategies, and take actions to directly support fish recovery.  The list below reflects those multiple objectives.

It is important to note the parallel efforts not included in, but essential to, the list of restoration projects below, as well as the broader restoration of the Klamath Project. 

The list below assumes the simultaneous existence of significant and robust demand management programs administered by the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency (DRA).  The list also assumes federal funding for the DRA to make water available for wildlife (a.k.a., “water for wildlife” contracts).  The role of DRA activities during the 2024 through 2027 period is being addressed separately.

The list below also assumes continued work aimed at infrastructure upgrades and efficiency measures, like the planning currently underway through Farmers Conservation Alliance in accordance with Public Law 566.  It also assumes parallel land management and water conservation activities, for example, through U.S. Department of Agriculture’s various programs (e.g., Conservation Reserve Program).  

Non-prioritized List of Restoration Projects by Type

Infrastructure

A Canal Safety Modifications

Pumping Plant D Rehabilitation

Pumping Plant S Rehabilitation

Klamath Straits Drain/Outlet Canal Rehabilitation

D Canal Recirculation Pump Upgrades

West Side Pumping Plant Upgrades

Tule Lake Dike Rehabilitation Program

Ady Canal Connection Project

North Canal Extension

Stateline Recirculation Pumping Plants

Water Management

Water Measurement/Automated control (i.e., SCADA) Program

Water Quality Monitoring Program

DU-TID Sump Rotation Study

P.L. 566 Watershed Plans (KID, TID, KDD)

Lower Klamath-Lost River Watershed Stewardship Plan

Klamath County Managed Aquifer Recharge Pilot Program

KID C Siphon Spill Structure

KDD Lower Klamath Laser Leveling Program

Or-Cal. RC&D Clear Lake Watershed Juniper Removal

Tri-County Clear Lake Alternative Storage Study

Fisheries

Klamath Canyon Springs Isotope Study

Fish Screening Program (TU, Family Water Alliance)

Lower Lost River Sucker Spawning Engineering Design

Private Lands Sucker Rearing Program

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