Regulating water

   Though he hasn’t calculated final numbers, White estimated he visited about 350 people between the upper reaches of the Sprague River and Wood River to the mouths of the Sprague, Wood and Williamson rivers, telling each of them to turn off their irrigation water this summer. The number of actual claims was larger, as some people own more than one claim.

   In the future, White will notify everyone on the same day, likely by mail.

   “I prefer to do it that way but when you have hundreds of people that need to be regulated, it takes a long time and a lot of staff to get through it all,” he said. “This summer wasn’t an ideal year to do it, year one. I think some good came of it. We did get to answer a lot of questions along the way.”

   Linda Long, president of the Modoc Point Irrigation District, was one of the irrigators who received   shutoff notices. Hers came June 26.

   Some irrigators are looking at stock water wells in the future. The Oregon Water Resources Department allowed water to flow for drinking water for animals, but Long said it was still difficult to keep stock water this year.

   “My hat’s off to the upper Basin water users,” he said. “It was not an easy year for them, given the drought and given the mass regulation for the first time. But yet they complied with the orders overwhelmingly. My hat’s really off to them for getting through this year.”

   “Everybody’s been very patient toward the settlement agreements and meetings,” Long said.

Hopefully we’ll get some satisfaction as irrigators on what might be the future there for them to go forward,” Long said. “Summer’s over but there’s still a lot of questions and answers that can’t be determined because there’s still uncertainty.

KID

Mark Stuntebeck, manager of the Klamath Irrigation District (KID), said his group learned a lot about coordination with other districts and with the Bureau of Reclamation during this irrigation season. Even though the KID as part of the Project received water, irrigators had to use it wisely.

“That was a tough water year,” he said. “A lot of our water users and patrons stepped up and attempted to just use what they needed.”

   “That brings us into a new world,” he said of the newly enforceable water law. “I think things will change some for us over the next several years, as far as how we administer and comply with our state water right.”

   As the water drains out of the Klamath Project canals, Stuntebeck is preparing to make some shortterm repairs to the KID infrastructure. He and KID would like to replace an aging flume structure in the next few years.

   KID also has established a planning committee looking at the future of the district, especially when it comes to water rights and how the district will comply.

   “We don’t have that yet,” he said.

   “We don’t know what to think. We can’t make plans, can’t do leases, can’t do contracts,” she said.

   “People are not going to do it because they can’t be caught next year like they did this year,” Long said. “It’s a tough deal. There’s no answer yet.”