Growers in the Klamath Basin, in the Pacific Northwest, will receive the smallest amount of water ever from the federal government due to unrelenting drought, said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday. The water will be available around June 1, weeks later than usual.
“This water year is unlike anything the [Klamath] Project has ever seen,” said Camille Touton, the bureau’s deputy commissioner. Water inflow at Upper Klamath Lake this year was the lowest on record. Klamath Falls, Oregon, sits at the southern end of the lake, which is 15 miles north of the Oregon-California border. The Klamath Basin straddles the two states.
The Bureau of Reclamation said it would provide $15 million in aid through the Klamath Project Drought Relief Agency. The USDA said that up to $10 million was available to producers through a disaster program that covers losses incurred in 2018 or 2019 from drought, wildfire, or other natural disasters. Aid would buffer the impact of drought this year, it said.
Some 33,000 acre-feet of water was allocated to irrigators under its operating plan for 2021, said the Bureau of Reclamation. The plan was drafted after consultations with stakeholders and takes into account water needed for endangered fish species.
The irrigation allocation was one-tenth of what would typically be available in a drought year, said the Klamath Falls Herald and News.
“For some of us, it may mean that we’re not in business next year,” Ben DuVal, president of the Klamath Water Users Association, told the Herald and News. “The ESA [Endangered Species Act] doesn’t take into account paying a mortgage or providing for your family.”