[env-trinity] Klamath Herald and News:

[Tom Stokely]

Odd how the article fails to mention the contribution of water from the Trinity to maintain the salmon run...

http://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/article_c17276e8-4056-11e3-b2c2-001a4bcf887a.html 

BOR, Klamath Project reflect on water year
By SAMANTHA TIPLER H&N Staff Reporter | Posted: Tuesday, October 29, 2013 12:00 am
This year was a tough year for water users.
But thanks to the new biological opinion tying needs in Upper Klamath Lake for listed shortnose and Lost River suckers and the needs of threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River, Klamath Project irrigators had a baseline to work with and a security they haven’t had for more than a decade.
In the spring, the Bureau of Reclamation released its operations plan, based on the new joint biological opinion. It estimated project irrigators would have 290,000 acre feet of water available. It was still about 100,000 acre feet short, but it was a number irrigators could work with.
“That starts to give us some very firm goals on how much demand reduction we need,” said Jason Phillips, Klamath Basin area office manager for the Bureau of Reclamation. “It’s not set in stone. It can’t go down, but it can go up.”
“Knowing what you can plan for in April versus trying to make adjustments in August is really helpful,” said Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association. “That’s the beauty of this new opinion. It allows us very early in the season to say, do we have enough?”
Offsetting need
Knowing there could be a shortage, irrigators and districts worked to offset some of the need through programs with the water users and the Klamath Water and Power Agency. In the project, water users pumped 64,000 acre feet of groundwater (offsetting demand from the lake) and 10,000 acre feet of demand management (deciding not to irrigate).
“We did not have any involuntary water shortages within the Klamath Project because we did that successfully,” Phillips said.
Phillips included work done outside the official programs: day-to-day management and coordination.
“People just used less water this year,” Addington agreed. “One less, two less on the grain. Or maybe a month less on a grain crop. Longer between sets of alfalfa — which probably in some cases affected people’s yields. But there was a recognition we’re in a tough water year but we’ve got something to work with here.”
A dry year
“It was not all roses,” Addington said.
The 2013 water year was the driest the Klamath Basin has seen since 1994, Phillips said.
While the Bureau of Reclamation and irrigators had an idea of their supply, demand remained a wild card. Addington said irrigators and the bureau met every week to coordinate what was happening with water supply and demand.
“At the end of the day, you can look back and say we didn’t have any involuntary water shortages,” Addington said, “but that’s because a lot of people, a lot of people, worked really hard to make it that way.”
In a very good water year, the Bureau of Reclamation and irrigation districts would be able to say on April 1 if normal operations would happen for the irrigation season — meaning no involuntary shortages. On an OK year, they would be able to say by June or July. This year they weren’t absolutely positive demand would meet supply until Sept. 20, Phillips said.
“On that day was when we had determined we had enough water to make it to the end of the irrigation season.”
Next year
At about this time last year, Upper Klamath Lake was at its lowest elevation ever. This year the lake level sits about a foot higher than last year.
“The lake is already starting to refill,” Phillips said. “We’re higher than we ended in 2012. That’s a good thing.”
The bureau won’t know if the winter is looking good until January or February. Their eyes will be on the mountains, watching for a good snowpack. Snowpack means more flows into the lake next year.
“We still have to wait and see what the winter brings,” Phillips said. “The new plan didn’t make new water. But with the efficient way that it uses available water, we can be more confident we’ll have good years.”
stipler at heraldandnews.com; @TiplerHN
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