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July could be dicey for water
Published June 27, 2003
Lake level a concern
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
A bandage has been put on the Klamath Reclamation Project.
The five-day shutdown that was called for Wednesday, and then called off, has been avoided in part because of negotiations and an agreement between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
But, at the end of July, the bandage could fall off.
By July 31, the Bureau will have to manage the project in such a way that the level of Upper Klamath Lake meets a new target.
"We have a problem, and it is a big problem," said Dave Sabo, manager of the Bureau's Klamath Basin Area Office.
On July 31, the lake level needs to be at an elevation of 4,140.7 feet above sea level.
That's about 5 inches higher than it would have to be were this still a "dry" year. But two weeks ago, 2003 was officially designated under the terms of the Endangered Species Act as a "below average" year. That was a result of the spring moisture that followed a dry winter.
Requiring the lake to be four inches higher, combined with increased flows for coho salmon down the Klamath River from Iron Gate dam, results in a requirement under the Endangered Species Act for 150,000 acre-feet of water to stay in the lake or go downstream.
Sabo said there will have to be irrigation delivery cutbacks to met the requirements of the Service's biological opinion, which sets up the ways that suckers are to be protected.
"The only relief right now is to ask for reductions in diversions," Sabo said.
He said there are few options. Wildlife refuges, for example, can't give anymore.
Tule Lake and Lower Klamath national wildlife refuges have already been cut off from water, and Sabo said it doesn't look like they'll get any more this summer.
The Bureau called off the shutoff Wednesday because it was confident it could come to a compromise with the Service about the required lake level.
Because the official designation of 2003 as a "below average" year was made at mid-month, the Service said, the Bureau would be required to meet a lake level of 4,141.8 feet above sea level. That's the average of the two lake levels called for in a "dry" year and a "below average" year.
"They basically gave me the inch of flexibility that we were talking about," Sabo said.
Sabo said that despite the recent low net inflows into the lake, he can't designate the year again as "dry." Under the law, he's required to make as accurate a projection as he can, and it appears that for the water year, the amount of flow available is going to be at the "below average" level.
He said the year type is based on a projection of inflow into the lake. The border between dry and below average is at 312,000 acre-feet of net inflow into the lake. This year, thanks to a wet April, inflows have already been 260,000 acre-feet.
In the past few weeks, Sabo said, the inflows have fallen off much more rapidly than expected - and were at zero on Thursday.
The Oregon Department of Water Resources is now looking at water use and aquifer conditions above Klamath Lake to try to figure out why the inflows dropped. Paul Cleary, department director, said the department wants to do what it can to avoid a situation that resembles what happened in 2001.
"Things are even more critical this year because the crop is in the ground, and a great financial investment has already been made," he said. "We need to make sure the irrigators above Upper Klamath Lake are conserving water wherever possible to help their fellow project irrigators get through this crisis."
For July, the Bureau is asking that Basin water users cut diversions from Upper Klamath Lake by at least 300 cubic feet per second, bring the flows though the A Canal and other diversions down to 1,075 cfs. But, depending on what kind of weather July brings and whether inflows into the lake continue to drop, greater cuts could be ordered.
"That gets us through this period - my dilemma is what is coming up," he said.
For the long term, the Bureau wants the Service to consider a "glide path" for lake levels, which would have lake level targets projected for each month based on current conditions.
As things stand now, with the targets for the lake set at the end of the month, the lake level requirements can drop several inches from one day to the next. What the Bureau proposes are targets that vary from day to day in a smooth line.
"That would simplify things and eliminate water year type," Sabo said.
To do so, the Bureau and the Service would need to go through a process of reconsulting to revise the biological opinion. That could take six to eight months.
In the meantime, he said Basin water users are going to have evaluate their irrigation systems and the lands they work. Sabo commended the efforts of water users to conserve water, but said they will have to do even more.
"There's got to be some realism put into the project," he said.
Despite the turmoil of the last week, Sabo said he is optimistic about hitting the lake level target for the end of July.
"I think there is a real, dedicated effort to not repeat yesterday or 2001," he said Thursday afternoon.
Lake level a concern
By DYLAN DARLING
H&N Staff Writer
A bandage has been put on the Klamath Reclamation Project.
The five-day shutdown that was called for Wednesday, and then called off, has been avoided in part because of negotiations and an agreement between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
But, at the end of July, the bandage could fall off.
By July 31, the Bureau will have to manage the project in such a way that the level of Upper Klamath Lake meets a new target.
"We have a problem, and it is a big problem," said Dave Sabo, manager of the Bureau's Klamath Basin Area Office.
On July 31, the lake level needs to be at an elevation of 4,140.7 feet above sea level.
That's about 5 inches higher than it would have to be were this still a "dry" year. But two weeks ago, 2003 was officially designated under the terms of the Endangered Species Act as a "below average" year. That was a result of the spring moisture that followed a dry winter.
Requiring the lake to be four inches higher, combined with increased flows for coho salmon down the Klamath River from Iron Gate dam, results in a requirement under the Endangered Species Act for 150,000 acre-feet of water to stay in the lake or go downstream.
Sabo said there will have to be irrigation delivery cutbacks to met the requirements of the Service's biological opinion, which sets up the ways that suckers are to be protected.
"The only relief right now is to ask for reductions in diversions," Sabo said.
He said there are few options. Wildlife refuges, for example, can't give anymore.
Tule Lake and Lower Klamath national wildlife refuges have already been cut off from water, and Sabo said it doesn't look like they'll get any more this summer.
The Bureau called off the shutoff Wednesday because it was confident it could come to a compromise with the Service about the required lake level.
Because the official designation of 2003 as a "below average" year was made at mid-month, the Service said, the Bureau would be required to meet a lake level of 4,141.8 feet above sea level. That's the average of the two lake levels called for in a "dry" year and a "below average" year.
"They basically gave me the inch of flexibility that we were talking about," Sabo said.
Sabo said that despite the recent low net inflows into the lake, he can't designate the year again as "dry." Under the law, he's required to make as accurate a projection as he can, and it appears that for the water year, the amount of flow available is going to be at the "below average" level.
He said the year type is based on a projection of inflow into the lake. The border between dry and below average is at 312,000 acre-feet of net inflow into the lake. This year, thanks to a wet April, inflows have already been 260,000 acre-feet.
In the past few weeks, Sabo said, the inflows have fallen off much more rapidly than expected - and were at zero on Thursday.
The Oregon Department of Water Resources is now looking at water use and aquifer conditions above Klamath Lake to try to figure out why the inflows dropped. Paul Cleary, department director, said the department wants to do what it can to avoid a situation that resembles what happened in 2001.
"Things are even more critical this year because the crop is in the ground, and a great financial investment has already been made," he said. "We need to make sure the irrigators above Upper Klamath Lake are conserving water wherever possible to help their fellow project irrigators get through this crisis."
For July, the Bureau is asking that Basin water users cut diversions from Upper Klamath Lake by at least 300 cubic feet per second, bring the flows though the A Canal and other diversions down to 1,075 cfs. But, depending on what kind of weather July brings and whether inflows into the lake continue to drop, greater cuts could be ordered.
"That gets us through this period - my dilemma is what is coming up," he said.
For the long term, the Bureau wants the Service to consider a "glide path" for lake levels, which would have lake level targets projected for each month based on current conditions.
As things stand now, with the targets for the lake set at the end of the month, the lake level requirements can drop several inches from one day to the next. What the Bureau proposes are targets that vary from day to day in a smooth line.
"That would simplify things and eliminate water year type," Sabo said.
To do so, the Bureau and the Service would need to go through a process of reconsulting to revise the biological opinion. That could take six to eight months.
In the meantime, he said Basin water users are going to have evaluate their irrigation systems and the lands they work. Sabo commended the efforts of water users to conserve water, but said they will have to do even more.
"There's got to be some realism put into the project," he said.
Despite the turmoil of the last week, Sabo said he is optimistic about hitting the lake level target for the end of July.
"I think there is a real, dedicated effort to not repeat yesterday or 2001," he said Thursday afternoon.
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| July could be dicey for water |
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