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Looking for Water in the Klamath Basin

Posted on: Monday, 31 October 2005, 03:01 CST

By Clarren, Rebecca

It's been four years since angry farmers in the Klamath Basin staged bucket brigades to protest the federal government's decision to keep irrigation water in rivers for endangered fish. Since then, much of the acrimony has diminished. But even though the region isn't making national headlines, a Solution to the basin's water problems is as elusive as ever.

And the government's current plan may only be making matters worse.

A federal water bank, funded for 10 years, pays farmers to either forgo irrigation entirely, or use only well water to fill irrigation canals. That allows the Bureau of Reclamation to send downstream the 100,000 acre-feet of water legally required to help recover endangered coho salmon runs.

But beyond the $65 million price tag for the effort is another expense: The water bank has encouraged farmers to make an unsustainable run on the underground aquifer. Since 2001, the Oregon Department of Water Resources has issued approximately 160 groundwater permits for irrigation in the basin, leading to an eightfold increase in groundwater pumpage in the Klamath Valley and Tule Lake areas, according to a May 2005 report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

While the agency is working on two studies to determine how much water is in the aquifer and determine the link between ground and surface water, preliminary findings indicate that the current rate of pumping isn't a long-term solution. in the past five years the aquifer has sustained a net loss of 13 feet. In summer months in certain parts of the basin, the aquifer has declined by up to 40 feet.

"We've never seen declines like that, not on that scale," says Ned Gates, a hydrogeologist with the Oregon Department of Water Resources. "Part of it is, there's been a drought. But if this pumping wasn't going on, I think you'd see a lot of recovery."

Even so, in August, ODWR denied a request by a coalition of environmental groups asking for a moratorium on new groundwater permits until the USGS study is complete.

Bob Hunter, WaterWatch of Oregon's attorney, argues that creating new groundwater users is "insanity" when the state hasn't even determined how much water is due to the Klamath tribe - which holds the basin's most senior water rights after endangered species.

"We should make sure groundwater is only used to solve existing problems," says Hunter.

While the Bureau of Reclamation admits the water bank is too expensive to maintain forever, agency staffers are short on details for a comprehensive alternative.

Copyright MEDIAmerica, Inc. Oct 01, 2005

Source: Oregon Business

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