FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 17, 2023

Contact Information:

Moss Driscoll, Director of Water Policy

(541) 891-8836

moss@kwua.org

Klamath Project Gets Fraction of Needed Supply; Massive River Flows Anticipated

by Moss Driscoll
 

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) announced the initial 2023 irrigation supply from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River for farms and wildlife refuges within the Klamath Project at Klamath Water Users Association’s (KWUA) annual meeting on April 13, 2023. Reclamation’s initial allocation is 215,000 acre-feet of water, which represents approximately 60 percent of the water needed this year for farms and wildlife refuges served by the Klamath Project.

“KWUA is very disappointed that Reclamation chose not to follow its own operational plans,” Tracey Liskey, President of KWUA. “In a year that is in the top ten percent in terms of snowpack, with over 180 percent of average currently, and when Reclamation expects to release more than 590,000 acre-feet of water to the Pacific Ocean, we have 60,000 acres of farmland along with two national wildlife that are likely to go dry this year.” 

Upper Klamath Lake stores approximately 460,000 acre-feet, meaning that the entire lake (plus more) will be emptied this year to produce temporary flows in the Klamath River. Forecasts indicate that more water will be released for river flows this summer than will flow into Upper Klamath Lake.

The announced supply represents a deviation from the Interim Operations Plan that Reclamation just extended last fall over KWUA’s objections. If Reclamation was following the Interim Operations Plan, which requires using inflow specific forecasts from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the actual allocation should be 285,000 acre-feet.

“For months, KWUA urged Reclamation to abandon the Interim Operations Plan, only to have Reclamation refuse to develop a new plan,” Liskey stated. “Now, once the hydrology improves and a decent irrigation supply should be available, Reclamation refuses to follow the very Interim Operations Plan that it just re-adopted.”

The Klamath Project provides water to roughly 230,000 acres of farms and refuges in northern California and southern Oregon. Farming in the Klamath Project produces half a billion dollars in regional economic activity. 

Along with the supply, Reclamation announced that “$9.85 million will be available through the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency for contractors who receive a reduced water allocation.” “We had hoped we would not have to run a program this year given the conditions, but I guess I was wrong” commented Marc Staunton, President of the Klamath Project Drought Response Agency.

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