Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
|
Herald and
News: Klamath Falls, Oregon
http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2003/09/12/news/top_stories/top4.txt Bureau head explains near shut-off of Klamath Project Published September 12, 2003 By DYLAN DARLING The head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation this week responded to lawmakers who asked nearly three months ago why farmers almost lost their supply of irrigation water in the middle of the growing season. But the response from Reclamation Commissioner John Keys shed no new light on what lower-level Reclamation officials have said all along: water conditions changed radically as the season progressed, making it hard to predict how supplies would hold up. Keys did not address the issue of whether decisions made by agency officials were influenced by political pressure, an allegation raised in newspaper reports in recent weeks. The Bureau of Reclamation announced shortly before noon on June 25 that it planned to shut down Klamath Reclamation Project because Upper Klamath Lake was falling too fast to maintain water levels required to protect endangered suckers. A few hours later the agency rescinded that decision. Two days later, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden and California Reps. Wally Herger and John Doolittle, all Republicans, sent a letter to the Interior Department asking for an explanation of the circumstances that led to the water cutoff decision and its quick reversal. "The culmination of the reclassification and reduction of lows in to Upper Klamath Lake almost led to the worst day in the Basin since April 6, 2001, when the Bureau announced there would be no water deliveries for the 2001 water year," the lawmakers' letter stated. "Had this tragedy not been averted an estimated $200 million investment in crops could have been decimated." They also asked for the technical data the Bureau had used to make its decisions and what the Bureau could do to avoid such a situation in the future. In a response sent Tuesday, Keys said an unexpected rush of water flowing into Upper Klamath Lake, followed by a sudden drop in flows, complicated the Bureau's predictions of how much water irrigators could expect to receive. Bureau officials consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for protecting endangered suckers, about dropping water levels. But lacking an immediate solution, the Bureau decided to shut down irrigation operations for a few days, until a June 30 minimum lake level could be satisfied. Keys wrote that after the curtailment was announced, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to a compromise in the June 30 minimum lake level, and the irrigation cutoff was averted. "Unfortunately, because of the rapidly changing conditions and the need to confer with the Fish and Wildlife Service over this unique circumstance, we had already asked that the diversions to the project be curtailed," he said. With the letter, Keys included copies streamflow forecasts issued by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and a copy of the Bureau's operations plan. In his response to lawmakers, Keys wrote that the Bureau is working with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Conservation Service to improve the forecast model and better predict inflow into the Basin. "We hope this action will help alleviate in the future some of the problems that occurred this year," he wrote. He also wrote that ongoing investigations to enhance water availability and the continued developed of the pilot water bank, in which the Bureau pays irrigators to switch to ground water or idle their land, should help reduce irrigation demands on Upper Klamath Lake. Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml |
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