Water allotments down in Langell Valley

Published April 11, 2004

The Langell Valley Irrigation District's board voted last week to have lower allotments of water for customers this year.

District Manager John Nichols said that, for the second year in a row, customers will be getting 2.5 acre-feet of water per acre instead of the usual 3 acre-feet.

Low inflows expected for Clear Lake and Gerber Reservoir are the reason for the curtailment. The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service predicts Clear Lake will get 25,000 acre-feet of inflow, or 61 percent of average, from April through July, and Gerber Reservoir will get 8,000 acre-feet, or 47 percent of average over the same time period.

"We are still not up to our full allotments on irrigation deliveries, but we are going to try to get by with 2.5 acre-feet," Nichols said.

And, he said, the district might have to start early if the warm weather keeps up, making the water situation on the east side of the Klamath Reclamation Project even tighter.

- By Dylan Darling