Deadline June 10 - Klamath Project Drought Response Agency continues helping farmers

May 15, 2020, Herald and News

Klamath Project Drought Response Agency continues to provide programs to assist Klamath Project farmers in this uncertain irrigation water season, according to a news release.

This week, the KPDRA is initiating a program to provide financial assistance to farmers who irrigated between March 1 and May 12, 2020, but will not be able to irrigate for the remainder of this season due to the unexpected reduction in water supply to the Klamath Project. As has been widely reported, the amount of water available from Upper Klamath Lake was reduced from 140,000 acre feet, roughly enough water to irrigate 50,000 acres, to approximately 80,000 acre feet. Many Project farmers planted crops and irrigated their land between March 1 and May 12 in good faith reliance on the original allocation of water from the Lake. Many of those farmers will not be able to continue irrigating those crops and will suffer significant financial injury.

This Limited Irrigation Program augments the existing programs which reimburse the energy cost for providing well water to the Project, provide financial assistance to farmers who will receive no irrigation water this year, and provide financial assistance to farmers who winter flooded, but will not be able to irrigate from March 1 through the remainder of the season.

Klamath Project farmers are encouraged to file applications for financial assistance under the new Limited Irrigation Drought Program and the other KPDRA Drought Response Programs. Applications and information about all of the Drought Response Programs are available at www.klamathwaterbank.com, by calling 541-630-0752, or by emailing info@klamathwaterbank.com. The deadline for filing applications is June 10, 2020.

The Klamath Project Drought Response Agency was formed in 2018 to respond to severe restrictions on irrigation water delivery to Klamath Reclamation Project farmers. It receives and distributes funds provided by the United States to help mitigate the financial distress caused by United States’ restrictions on irrigation water deliveries. The DRA distributes those funds to increase the supply of water to farmers by reimbursing well pump energy costs. It also provides financial assistance to Klamath Project farmers who use water from Upper Klamath Lake or the Klamath River for irrigation.

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