In the Klamath Basin, too little water promised to too many interests

By John DeVoe

The abundance and diversity of waterfowl and other migratory birds make the Klamath Basin one of the nation's most significant wetland wildlife areas. The region's spectacular National Wildlife Refuges, including Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, support 80 percent of Pacific Flyway waterfowl but regularly suffer water shortages harmful to waterfowl populations, wildlife habitat, and water quality. This spring's devastating avian cholera outbreak in the Klamath -- sparked by a lack of water -- has highlighted the grave situation not only facing these refuges but also the Klamath's salmon, fishermen and farmers. Put simply, there has been too much of this region's scarce water promised to too many interests.

Meanwhile, supporters of the controversial Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and associated federal legislation -- now stalled in Congress -- have made numerous claims regarding the deal's supposed water-supply benefits for the Klamath's prized refuges. However, a reading of the agreement shows such claims have no basis. In fact, the settlement would institute unsustainable water policies favoring farming at the expense of Klamath refuges, fish and wildlife, all while placing a $1 billion burden on the American taxpayer.

Deal backers overlook the fact that the settlement won't relieve the harmful drought-year toll on Lower Klamath wetlands, and requires that difficult and counterproductive preconditions be met before allowing an inadequate refuge water allocation. Critically, one precondition is issuance of new federal rules guaranteeing irrigators more water in dry years than current law provides. This would be achieved in part by sacrificing flows for protected Klamath River salmon. Completing the basin's water rights adjudication process, now under way, will secure a better water future for the refuges than this settlement.

The deal also forecloses on one of the best, lowest-cost opportunities for increasing refuge water supply and achieving a sustainable water balance in the Klamath. To protect a sweetheart deal for a small group of irrigators, the settlement attempts to perpetuate commercial leaseland farming on 22,000 acres of Tule Lake and Lower Klamath refuges and asks taxpayers to subsidize this harmful practice. In contrast, phasing out this federally managed program, using those lands to store winter water, and using the 1905 priority date water rights associated with those lands for fish and wildlife purposes would represent a huge step toward a sustainable Klamath Basin -- at a fraction of the cost of the settlement deal.

These leaselands typically use 60,000 acre-feet of water per year. The 17,000 acres of leaselands on Tule Lake refuge alone require some 43,000 acre-feet of water during irrigation season. If the Tule Lake leaselands were restored to permanent marsh, the area's potential new natural storage capacity could top 100,000 acre-feet.

Leaving more water on Tule Lake refuge would also provide better aquifer recharge and potentially reduce pumping costs for the area's well users. Currently, a stopgap federal program spends millions paying irrigators to mine Klamath aquifers during drought, causing groundwater levels to drop dramatically.

The agreement's refuge policy failures present other disadvantages. For example, it eliminates prime opportunities for water quality improvements through wetland restoration on public lands, increasing the cost and decreasing the effectiveness of available water quality measures. Removing prime low-cost options for reducing water demand on public lands also increases the taxpayer cost and economic impacts of the long-term water demand reduction program necessary to achieve a sustainable future for the Klamath.

If implemented, the Klamath settlement deal will only exacerbate the existing imbalance between water supply and demand in the Klamath Basin, ensuring that conflicts over water will continue and that waterfowl, fish and wildlife will continue to suffer. The Klamath Basin's irreplaceable natural heritage, and the communities dependent upon a healthy basin, deserve better.

John DeVoe is executive director of WaterWatch of Oregon.