Klamath irrigators express frustration over allocation

By Christine Souza 

Despite favorable conditions in the Klamath Basin, irrigators say the initial federal water allocation falls short of what farmers in the Klamath Water Project should receive this year.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the project, announced this week that Klamath Basin irrigators will receive an initial allocation of 230,000 acre-feet from the lake. That is 35% less than estimated needs, said Paul Simmons, executive director and counsel for the Klamath Water Users Association.

“Within a few weeks, Upper Klamath Lake will be completely full for the first time in seven years, and the snowpack is in good shape for this time of year, yet we are looking at the fifth-worst allocation in the 120 years since the Klamath Project was authorized,” said Simmons, who called the allocation “deeply disappointing.” “Because of the way the internal distribution of water works, we are looking at family farms that will go without water for the fifth straight year.”

In addition, the bureau announced allocations of 35,000 acre-feet each from Clear Lake and Gerber Reservoir, which serve districts on the east side of the Klamath Project.

Moss Driscoll, director of water policy for the association, said, “Overall, water conditions in the Klamath Basin are favorable.” He added, the water picture “is even better than last year, when the allocation was higher.”

While the Klamath Basin received normal precipitation from the winter and water benefits from flood operations in March and early April, the bureau’s Regional Director Karl Stock said conditions have not fully rebounded from years of drought.

“We are pleased the hydrology for the 2024 water year continues to be favorable over last year’s, but we recognize that inflows into Upper Klamath Lake have not materialized in a manner that allows all water demands to be met with this allocation,” Stock said in a statement.

The bureau said it will continue to monitor hydrology and inflow forecasts and may adjust the allocation if conditions warrant an update.

An updated allocation that comes later in the season will not help farmers today, according to farmer Rob Unruh, a KWUA board member who farms along the California-Oregon border.

“I can’t plan or finance a crop based on water that I don’t know about today,” Unruh said. “I thought this would surely be the year when we did not have to watch fields dry up and blow away, but I guess not.”

The Klamath Project relies on water from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River and is guided by an operations plan and regulatory guidelines put in place by the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect fish species.

The bureau’s announcement comes a week after supervisors from Siskiyou and Modoc counties in California and Klamath County in Oregon sent a letter to bureau Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton, urging the agency to immediately provide adequate water to the project.

In the April 5 letter, county leaders stated that, due to excess water, “Reclamation must make every effort and should be able to provide full water supplies for farms and ranches of the Klamath Project.”

Klamath Basin irrigators received delayed and short water deliveries in each of the past four years. Last year, despite higher-than-normal precipitation, the bureau announced an initial supply of 215,000 acre-feet. That was increased to 260,000 acre-feet last May.

Klamath farmers experienced severe cutbacks in water deliveries during the extreme drought years. In 2022, the bureau granted an initial allocation of 50,000 acre-feet. In 2021, the initial allocation was 33,000 acre-feet. Annual average project demand is between 320,000 acre-feet and 400,000 acre-feet.

In addition to the 2024 allocation, the bureau announced $8.5 million in funding for Klamath Basin communities to support drought resiliency and $5 million for Klamath Basin tribes impacted by drought. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of the Interior entered into an agreement with tribes and the association on efforts to restore the basin ecosystem and improve water supply reliability for agriculture.

(Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)