*** Following are water hydrographs of wells being depleted, followed by articles.
 

8/21/04. According to Ned Gates, Hydrogeologist, Oregon Water Resources Department,  with the annual mandatory, Bureau of Reclamation-imposed 'water bank', our aquifer is being depleted by 5' per year. It is not recovering. Next year we are forced to idle land and pump ground water totaling 100,000 acre feet. State obs well 1162 shows water level trends since 1994. This well is 5 miles north of the state line and about 4 miles northwest of Malin. The big drop was 2001 water shut off. For larger graph, go HERE.

ARTICLES

Summaries of the two House Bills (2564 and 2566) regarding water measurement of ALL wells and surface waters in Oregon, followed by House Bills, sent by Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett, District 28, posted 3/24/07.

Water issues on local lawmakers agenda, H&N 3/20/07.  "State Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, continues to work on water issues affecting the Klamath Basin. The senator recently met with Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s natural resources policy director to discuss the total maximum daily load on Upper Klamath Lake. Whitsett wants to address inaccuracies in the load. Whitsett also is campaigning against HB 2564, which would require water measurement devices on all domestic and agricultural wells, irrigation allocations and pond and stream diversions."

Senator Doug Whitsett asks for testimony on mandatory water meters, 2/19/07. "House Bill 2564 would require installing and maintaining water measuring devices on all municipal, industrial, agricultural, and domestic uses of the waters of the state." "A hearing for public testimony on mandatory water measurement is scheduled for 3 P.M. Wednesday, February 21st in Hearing Room HR C by the House Committee on Energy and the Environment." {KBC NOTE: in California a law was passed that they could not mandate meters. In the Bay area, we spoke with a farmer who said after he put in meters, he now must pay more than $100/acre foot to pump water from his own well on his own property.}

Bureau Press Release: Deadline Nears for Participating in Bureau of Reclamation’s 2007 Water Acquisition Program-Feb. 15, 2007

PRESS RELEASE, Bureau of Reclamation: Call for Applications for 2007 Klamath Basin Water Supply Enhancement Study, 

What is the aquifer, KPVI News Channel 6, posted 10/2/06. "Jerry Rigby, chair, Idaho Water Resources Board: 'It's an accounting system, you only get a reservoir to increase its level when water's being put in.' " (KBC NOTE: in Klamath Basin, the Department of the Interior's 'water bank' is taking 100,000 acre feet of our stored water and aquifer and putting it into the Klamath River, artificially elevating river flows above historic levels. This water bank is sucking out our aquifer at the rate of 5' per year, and is not allowing our aquifer to recharge.)

Bureau: Aquifer use necessary, H&N, posted to KBC 7/22/06
County questions water use, Commissioners object to aquifer irrigation in a good water year, H&N, posted to KBC 7/22/06
(KBC note: Our aquifer is being depleted by 5' per year according to OWRD. Yet the BIA paid for science by Dr Hardy which forces irrigators to pump the aquifer to artificially elevate Klamath River flows. So irrigators are told to pump the aquifer or shut down the Klamath Project, which is storage paid for by irrigators. This is a flood year yet we still are required to deplete our aquifer.)

Bureau to stabilize lake levels, H&N 6/13/06.  

Current program not a long-term solution; Water bank program designed as stop-gap measure, H&N 5/18/06  HERE for history of the waterbank and related articles.

Water bank figures start to roll in, H&N 3/8/06. (Snow pack last month was 158% of average. However the Bureau's mandatory water bank will take more than 100,000 acre-feet of water, (1/4 Project downsize) from irrigation and send it to the ocean to artificially raise the lake level and river flows because of the biological opinion driven by Dr Hardy science. KBC) HERE for Hardy page.  

Bureau: Project water bank succeeding, H&N 2/11/06. ( After 2001 water shutoff, the Bureau of Reclamation told Project Irrigators they must participate in the "water bank" which would downsize the Project by 1/4, or else the Klamath Project would be shut down. Is that voluntary? KBC).

Water bank deadline Feb. 16, H&N posted to KBC 2/6/06.  

PRESS RELEASE: We finally found the Bureau of Reclamation press release regarding this year's mandatory waterbank for Klamath Basin irrigators; it was in a National Water Resources Association newsletter. Posted to KBC 1/24/06

Bureau accepting water bank applications, H&N 1/18/06.

Water Bank Water Used by 9/13/05: 102,835 Acre-Feet. The Biological Opinion deemed flawed by the National Research Council demands 100,000 acre feet of the irrigators' stored water and aquifer (which is dropping 5 feet per year according to Oregon Water Resource Department). Last week TID was requested to again pump their wells by the Bureau of Reclamation, sending aquifer water into Klamath Lake and Klamath River over and above waterbank demands.

Put Blame in right place, Herald and News letter by Ed Baley, Tulelake Irrigation District board of directors president, posted to KBC 9/20/05

Researchers say water table critical to alfalfa irrigation, Capital Press posted to KBC 9/11/05

TID manager Earl Donosky said that the Bureau of Reclamation has requested they pump the TID wells again, over and above what was said to be required for the water bank. 9/20/05

TID well reports 8/25/05 TID manager Earl Donosky says they plan to finish all well pumping by Tuesday or Wednesday next week.      Bureau of Reclamation, "The water bank requirement for 2005 is 100,000 acre-feet of water." Water Bank Water Used by 07/20/05:   102,835 Acre-Feet      Two families have contacted KBC because their wells have gone dry. PHOTO: Water pumped from TID well on Stateline Rd. to fulfil the Bureau's waterbank demand of 100,000 acre feet of our stored irrigation water and aquifer. Link River used to go dry in the fall before the Project was built for irrigation water storage.

Put a stop to craziness, H&N 8/18/05 "The environmentalists have been trying to eliminate farming in the Basin. I feel the irrigation district and the 31 people in Oregon are playing into the hands of environmentalists. When they drain all the underground water dry there will be no more farming. Write to the government and put a stop to this craziness."

Houses lose well water  H&N 8/12/05  "The goal of the bank is to boost flows down the Klamath River for coho salmon." See water bank page for charts, articles, and downright blackmail that forces irrigators and districts into selling our aquifer down the river to make Klamath Lake and River levels higher than possible before the Klamath Project was built. KBC)

Dave Sabo, Bureau of Reclamation, addressed the Klamath County Commissioners regarding Klamath water situation, 5/17/05 by Barb Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade. 

Study finds water bank can't do it all, H&N 5/15/15

A positive step for Klamath, editorial LA Times by JOHN W. KEYS III Commissioner Bureau of Reclamation U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. (Is downsizing the Klamath irrigation by over 1/3 in drought and flood years, and depleting our aquifer 5 feet per year, "positive"? Positive for who? For those who built and paid in full for the Klamath Project to store irrigation water, which allows for higher-than-historic river flows and lake levels, and makes available free regulated water for power which was not available before the project....it is not "positive." See Waterbank Page for more info.

15-percent irrigation cutback sought, H&N 4/8/05. Actually this would be a 45% irrigation cutback. The Bureau of Reclamation 'water bank' has demanded 100,000 acre feet of water from the Klamath Basin, or 1/3 of our irrigation water.  Add 15%. Even after hundreds of conservation projects and approximately 100,000 acres of ag land have been converted to wetlands, the remaining irrigators have no assurance.  They have nothing but fear, being targeted to supply our stored irrigation water and our depleting aquifer to send water down the river to make higher-than-historic lake levels and river flows. See waterbank page.

Report faults costs of Klamath water bank, Oregonian by Michael Milstein 3/31/05. (The Bureau of Reclamation demands over 100,000 acre feet of irrigation water this year, 1/3 of water we stored in the project we paid for to be sent to the ocean. Now the ecoterrorists are using our depleted aquifer and compensation to landowners as leverage to try to buy our farmland, creating arid waste. It would destroy  habitat of 489 species of wildlife and $200 million worth of crops. Historically the river went dry before the project was built, so water that used to be in lakes-converted-to-farmland is now being diverted down the river, creating artificially high lake levels and river flows. Go figure...KBC)

Regardless of 'Best Available Science', Bureau demands over 100,000 Acre Feet of Klamath Irrigation Water Ken Lite, Oregon Water Resource Department, said regarding Sabo's statement to TID,  "Using our study for leverage doesn't make sense." They are two totally different issues. Story by KBC, content approved by TID manager 2/18/05

Feds renew call to idle Basin land, H&N 2/14/05. For more on dewatering our farmland, go HERE.

Bureau prepares to pick its idlers, H&N 2/2/05. A BLACK DAY IN THE KLAMATH BASIN---(a mandatory waterbank regardless of the National Resource Counsel saying that lake-level/river-flow management is not scientifically sound. Despite the fact that coho were declared in court illegally listed. Despite the fact that the Hardy studies, which formed our biological opinion, are proven flawed, taken from the highest water year in recorded history, and were hired by the Dept of Justice and Bureau of Indian Affairs to go against the farmers in adjudication. This year is a mandatory downsizing Klamath agriculture by 100,000 acre feet of water for a law proven flawed by peer review. KBC)

Water bank applications flood Bureau, H&N 1/31/05. (This mandatory 100,000 Acre Feet waterbank is disregarding the National Resource Council's peer-reviewed conclusion that river-flow/lake-level management is not scientifically justified, and disregarding the historical fact that the Link River used to go dry before the Project was built. They did not use the 'best available' science in 2001, and they refuse to use it in 2005. KBC)

Bureau hopes last-minute surge will fill water bank, H&N 1/26/05. Commentary by Barb Hall, Klamath Bucket Brigade, adds this quote: "A consulting hydrologist, Mark Van Camp of Sacramento, told  water users an analysis of the draft BuRec historic water flow study shows that downstream flows have increased 30 percent over discharges before settlement. That’s apparently because the irrigated land uses less water than evaporation loss from the thousands of acres of wetlands that existed before the shallow lakebeds were diked, drained and put to the plow."

Bureau goes afield for water bank, H&N 1/21/05. "In all, the Bureau needs about 28,000 acres of land signed up for idling to create 50,000 acre-feet of its 100,000 acre-foot water bank. The water bank is a federally required program designed to boost flows on the Klamath River for threatened Coho salmon." {Read the other articles on KBC...Coho Improperly Listed. Artificially elevated river flows--higher than before the Klamath Project was built--do not help fish according the the National Research Council, and on and on.  Why are they downsizing our community? KBC}

Trickling interest in water bank, H&N 1/19/05. "We were expecting between 450 and 500  and so far we got 20," said Rae Olsen, Bureau spokeswoman."  (...that is, 450-500 bids to idle farmland.  The Bureau of Reclamation is mandating 100,000 acre feet of farm water taken from farmers by land idling or aquifer depleting regardless of water year type.
(* The National Research Council said lake-level/river-flow management was unjustified.
* The latest lawsuit  said that the coho were illegally listed. 
* Dr. Hardy, hired by the Dept of Justice and Bureau of Indian affairs, created a non-peer-reviewed biological opinion based on the highest recorded flows to shut down the Klamath Project. The science that the Bureau of Reclamation and National Marine Fishery Service choose to mandate is the non-peer reviewed agenda-driven Hardy 'opinion'. 
*Our aquifer, according to Oregon Water Resources is being depleted because of this unjustified mandate....KBC)

Water agency seeks drought declaration, Redding Record Searchlight 1/12/04. "About 100,000 acre-feet of water -- almost one-third of the farmers' annual allocations -- must be reserved for coho salmon downstream. "  

Oregon State University Klamath Experiment Station field day; Klamath aquifer being depleted, river flows historic high, new crops and methods and adjudication discussed KBC News 8/6/04.
"Marbut, OWRD, 'We are in a short term depleting the aquifer."
Sabo, BOR, "We ran a lot of water down the river, and if we'd known how the water situation would shape up, we wouldn't have done that."
Sabo, "They (U S Fish and Wildlife Service) haven't done a recovery plan on suckers since 1994."..."There's plenty of suckers around.  I think if they were looking at the population of suckers today, they wouldn't be listed."

Klamath Basin Water Management by Doug Whitsett, President, Water for Life,Inc. "However, the shortage is not being caused by cattlemen, dairymen, and farmers as they suggest; rather, it is being caused by the management errors of our own government. Let us count the ways that our most precious natural resource continues to be wasted through mismanagement."

Sitting in his living room, Dennis Oden talks about low water tables and its affect on two of his wells that went dry over Memorial Day weekend. Well worry rising as water table dips, H&N 6/10/04 "To keep flows up for salmon in the Klamath River, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been paying some irrigators to switch to ground water to help fill the 75,000-acre-foot vault of its "water bank." And, some say the pumping is bring down the water table, leaving some pumps in domestic wells sucking air, not water."

Water bank assets run low, H&N 5/14/04.

PRESS RELEASE: Inflows Dictate Change in Water Year Type, from Bureau of Reclamation posted to KBC 5/10/04. (It is our understanding that a large amount of water was dumped into the river this winter over and above requirements. So now there is, once again, panic to obtain much more than the 75,000 acre feet of water demanded of the Klamath Basin irrigators to hold in the lake to meet the BO's contrived by the proven-flawed Hardy Science. All of the TID wells have been pumping for a week. KBC-jdk).

Mining water in the basin, Mail Tribune 5/5/04. 
KWUA Dan Keppen responds to Mail Tribune editorial 5/5/04. "The artificially high lake and river flow levels supported by the water bank– such as those that contributed to the 2001 curtailment of Upper Klamath Lake irrigation supplies - have been questioned by the National Academy of Sciences."

GAO to scrutinize Klamath water bank, Times-Standard 4/19/04

Times tight for 2004 Klamath water bank, Capital Press 4/1/04 More on  WaterBank, go HERE

Bureau's water bank taking shape, H&N 3/17/04.  "The water bank needs to have 75,000 acre-feet of water in it, and the Bureau has a $4.5 million budget to acquire it." "Next summer, the Bureau will need a water bank of 100,000 acre-feet." Regardless of the National Academy of Science (best available science) report denying lake and river levels help fish.  Regardless of how wet the winter is.  Regardless of the fact that this land was once a lake and it's being diverted down the river. KBC (jdk)

Bureau looks wider for water bank accounts, H&N posted to KBC 1/19/04

Feds buying more water for Klamath salmon, AP 1/17/04. If the NAS report had said that the stored Klamath irrigation had caused fish to die, then there would have been reconsultation in an instant to try to shut down Klamath irrigation. However the NAS report said that the Klamath Project water shutoff in 2001 was unjustified, and artificially-elevated lake levels and flows do not help fish. So what is the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) doing? Reconsultation? No way. They are taking 75,000 acre feet of our aquifer and our stored Project water to send down to the ocean, exceeding historic, before-project flows.  Do we have a choice? Yes, the BOR said our choice is to have the Klamath Project shut down. Locals call it 'blackmail'. Glen Spain of PCFFA thinks buying farmland, dewatering our land which was a 20 - 40 foot deep lake with over 430 species of wildlife, is a solution. KBC (jdk)

PRESS RELEASE: Reclamation announces its 2004 Klamath Basin Pilot water bank program. 1/16/04 "The Bureau of Reclamation is soliciting bids for the 2004 Pilot Water Bank. The Water Bank’s purpose is to comply with the 2002 NOAA Fisheries Biological Opinion on Klamath Project Operations. In 2004, the Biological Opinion calls for a water bank of 75,000 acre-feet."

2004 water bank blackmail, ESA double standard, and TID targeted again, KBC (jdk),  December 9, 2003