Until 20 May 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was in flood control operations on Upper Klamath Lake.  This occurred directly as a result of the U.S. government attorneys and solicitors (from the Department of Justice, to the Department of Interior, to the Bureau of Reclamation) advising the local Reclamation area office manager to deny farmers stored water in the fall of 2023 outside the conditions described in their interim operations plan, in violation of Oregon Water Law, the Klamath River Adjudication, and Reclamation contracts with Klamath Irrigation District. This decision by attorneys resulted in higher Upper Klamath Lake elevations after average precipitation during the winter and spring.  This is a condition that K.I.D. and KWUA warned Reclamation would occur back in October of 2023.

In April of 2024, Reclamation issued its 2024 Annual Operations Plan describing the environmental conditions and its decision to limit its Warren Act “B” contracts (those covered by KID contract Sections 13(b-f)) to 0.6 acre-feet of water per acre with a plan to keep flows in the Klamath River at a higher than natural flow in July-September (as per their interim operations plan) to facilitate dam removal operations.

Klamath Irrigation District’s contract with Reclamation (14-06-200-3784) Section 13 requires the district to assume obligations imposed upon the United States by the contracts served through Klamath Irrigation District’s infrastructure.  Klamath Irrigation District is a special government district operating under Oregon Revised Statute 545; the district is also the water-rights holder in trust for Klamath River Adjudication claims KA1000 and KA1004 with obligations to serve claim KA1002 (Van Brimmer Ditch Company).  A map outlining the water rights claims can be found at KA1000 & KA1004 Water Right w/KBID Well Permit (arcgis.com)

Section 13(a) of the K.I.D. contract applies to patrons within the boundaries of the Klamath Irrigation District whose lands were enrolled under a trust deed or contract between 1905 and 1909.

Sections 13(b) through (f) of the contract apply to numerous other contracts assumed by Klamath Irrigation District.

On 22 July 2024, Klamath Irrigation District requested the official Secretary of Interior notification activating Section 13(f) of our contract.  Assuming the Secretary of Interior did properly notify the district, by 16 July 2024, Klamath Irrigation District issued 82 curtailments of irrigation water letters to other irrigation districts, pumping units, and individual farmers, affecting over 2,641 acres of productive farmlands in active production this year.

Klamath Irrigation District knows that over 25,000 acres have voluntarily applied for a no-irrigation, fallow program within the areas served by Klamath Irrigation District contracts.

As of 23 July 2024, Reclamation’s tracking indicates that only 93,000 acre-feet of the water it intends to make available remains.  Anticipate Klamath Irrigation District to issue additional curtailment letters in August, assuming a valid notification from the Secretary of the Interior is provided to the district.

 

KID Contract with Reclamation Section 13 (a) through (f)

13.  DELIVERY OF WATER SUPPLY AND ASSUMPTION BY DISTRICT OF
OUTSTANDING CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES

(a) The District shall take the water supply for the lands within the limits of the District, as the same are now or hereafter defined, to be served by or through the transferred works at the headworks of the main canal and other delivery locations now in existence or that may be constructed in the future, and shall distribute the same to the water users entitled thereto.

(b) The District hereby assumes and agrees to carry out, during the term of this contract, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, all the obligations imposed upon the United States by the contracts listed on Exhibit “A”, or any amendments or supplements thereto, appended to and made a part of this contract, for the carriage and delivery of water, in force as of the effective date of this agreement, insofar as said contracts relate to the delivery and carriage of irrigation and drainage water through the transferred works. 

(c) Upon execution by the United States of future water contracts providing for carriage and delivery of irrigation and drainage water through the transferred works to serve the lands of the Pumping Division of the Klamath Project, or to serve the lands of individual water users which are outside the District but so located that they can be served through the transferred works, the District shall be notified thereof by the Secretary and the District shall thereupon assume the obligation of carriage and delivery thereunder the same as if said contracts had been in existence at the time of execution hereof: Provided, however, That further contracts shall not be entered into by the United States for carriage or delivery of irrigation water through the transferred works which will require additions to or enlargements of the same unless the expense of said additions or enlargements 1s borne by the United States or by the contractors.

(d) During the life of this agreement, the District shall be entitled to collect and retain for its own use, but the United States assumes no responsibility whatever for the payment or collection thereof, all revenues payable to the United States under the hereinabove mentioned contracts as annual operation and maintenance charges. The District shall have the right to withhold delivery of water to any contractor that fails to pay such charges in the amounts and at the time provided in its contract with the United States . All other provisions of said contracts shall remain unaffected hereby. The District shall not be responsible for collection of any revenues due the United States under said contracts which became due and payable before the effective date of this contract.

(e) The District shall deliver water to District lands at the points the United States is now delivering water. For lands outside the District boundaries, and served through the transferred works, watershall be delivered in the quantities, at the times and at the points of diversion from the transferred works as required from time to time by contractors that have executed contracts with the United States in such manner as to meet obligations which the United States has assumed under said contracts. Responsibilities of the District for delivery of water outside its boundaries shall be limited to the contracts listed on Exhibit “A” hereto and such other contracts as the United States may henceforth execute with others for delivery of water through the transferred works, provided that the terms of such future contracts with others are not contrary to any of the terms of this contract.

(f) The District agrees that it will make no water deliveries under contracts mentioned in this article at times when notified by the Secretary that the contracting parties are not entitled to the delivery of irrigation water because of nonpayment of charges due the United States or for other reasons.