May 3 - Oct 11

Sep 12 -

On 13 March 2023, Reclamation announced that 215,000 acre-feet of water would be available to the Klamath Reclamation Project irrigators from Upper Klamath Lake. No water is anticipated to be available for irrigation prior to 1 May 2023.

In Reclamation contract priority, this ensures the Van Brimmer Ditch Company and Henley-Ankey water rights holders will be able to receive 50cfs of delivery while water is available. It further allows Klamath Irrigation District and Tulelake Irrigation District farmers information to update their annual farm plans.

Unfortunately, this amount is less than anticipated in a year of average precipitation and very good snow-pack. Reclamation's "B" contractors will need to wait a bit longer for Reclamation to analyze the available supply, communicate with its "A" contractors, and issue a 2023 drought plan...in a year of average precipitation and very good snowpack.

Klamath Irrigation District has initiated its 2023 water-up plan which requires another very slow and controlled water-up of the A Canal; we are anticipating this process to take in excess of three weeks. Once the A Canal is charged from water purchased from Klamath Drainage District, and irrigation water becomes available to charge the remaining 191 miles of canals, it is likely to take the District at least a week before any irrigation deliveries are available due to the constraints and limitations of the irrigation system.

This is also contingent upon any update in the Yurok litigation to take control of the Klamath Reclamation Project by undermining the results of the Klamath River Adjudication. This has been discussed in previous newsletters.

Another factor that is not currently assessed as an issue is the impact of the "flushing flow" from stored water in Upper Klamath Lake deemed necessary by the National Marine Fisheries Service to mitigate C.shasta parasites in the worms in the Klamath River which mostly effect the non-treated, and non-endangered Chinook salmon which make up less than 2% of the diet of the remaining 74 Southern Resident Killer Whale population. If the flushing flow threatens the elevation of Upper Klamath Lake from dropping below 4,142, the opinion expressed as the minimum for endangered C'waam sucker spawning, then this will negatively impact the District's ability to meet initial irrigation demands through 1 June 2023.

Klamath Irrigation District ditch rider schedules are posted on our website or available to pick up in the office. www.KlamathID.org

In February and March, SHN Engineers & Geologists, Inc. (SHN) began preliminary design on a piped and pressurized D-System. This alternative, along with a gravity-fed piped alternative, will be included in draft System Improvement Plan which should be completed in the next few months.

The Watershed Plan Scoping Period ended on March 10, 2023. Throughout the Scoping Period, FCA maintained the mailing list and recorded the public’s comments. In the next months, FCA, with subcontractor, Parametrix, Inc., will begin drafting a Preliminary Draft Plan.

Keith Kueny, Energy and Resiliency Manager, met with the Nexus Team from University of California-Merced in Februrary. The Nexus Team is a team of researchers from UC-Merced that focus on environmental engineering challenges, including the development of canal covered solar. Canal solar would lay solar panels over the existing canal infrastructure. Benefits of canal solar include improved water quality and evaporation reduction, while also increasing energy production because of the cooling effects of water beneath the panels. Pairing with Turlock Irrigation District, the team will do the site design of Turlock’s solar covered canal system and use the opportunity to study the cooling effects of canal solar reducing evaporation. Team Nexus would like to study canal solar in the Klamath Basin and partner with the local districts if they are interested in a canal-covered solar project. The team estimates that 3,500 ft of canal would produce upwards of 2MWs of energy at a cost of $2,500,000 per MW.

Currently, there are 4 Megawatts of available capacity on the Pacific Power (PAC) utility circuit that serves Klamath Irrigation District. PAC would be willing to hold that capacity in a partnership to develop canal solar because the utility would include the project in their distribution system plan.

We also met with Alexis Cooley, Project Officer Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), regarding whether canopy solar would qualify for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Program. ODEQ indicated that the fund could be used for canopy solar because of the water quality benefits of covering canals. New federal tax credits combined with a CWSRF forgivable loan could cover 70-80% of project costs, reducing the amount of additional financing needed for the project.

Brett Golden, FCA Director of Modernization, Amanda Schroeder, FCA Program Specialist, and BJ Westlund, FCA Government Relations Manager, joined irrigation community members and their partners for a brief listening session and A Canal site visit with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Senator Jeff Merkley on March 18. Further, Brett joined irrigation communities; non-profit organizations; and local, state, federal, and tribal agency staff and/or elected officials for a Klamath workshop on March 21. We appreciated the opportunity to learn from community members during each of these two events.

Read the full update here....