Senior water rights come first, and most KID accounts will be on a wait list at some point this year. As of July 16, no farmers are currently waiting — but that can change fast. We anticipate wait lists returning and growing to several days as summer demand peaks. Per District policy, water orders still require 24-hour prior notice.

KID has cut its own daily draw from Upper Klamath Lake to make the water last through the end of September. That discipline is part of why the season is now on track — and part of why wait lists are used whenever orders exceed what can be delivered at the managed rate.

Where you stand in line

Seniority sets priority on the wait list — it does not exempt anyone from it. The most senior rights go to the top of the list when they are on it; everyone junior to them is first-call, first-served.

1. VBDC (1883 right) — the most senior right (up to 50 cfs, including its 8 river pumps). May be on the wait list at times, but holds the top priority when it is.
2. Henley-Ankeny (1884 right) — next in seniority (up to 49 cfs). Like VBDC, may be wait-listed, but sits at the top of the list.
3. KID 13(a) “A contract” holders (1905 right) — junior to VBDC and Henley-Ankeny; orders are first-call, first-served.
4. Warren Act “B contract” deliveries — 13(b) & (c) (1911) — a daily flow cap is in place; first-call, first-served, with a waiting list above the rate.

On the Warren Act contracts, Reclamation directed KID to limit deliveries to no more than 0.75 acre-feet per acre under the Secretary of the Interior's authority. Because March and April were dry, KID made sure water reached those with real demand early in the season — early-season water generally means better crop yield and less total water needed over the summer. B-contract demand above the daily rate is placed on a waiting list until the full directed rate is met.

Where each ride stands

The wait list is managed by ride (your ditch-rider division). Here is where each ride stands as of July 16, 2026. There is currently 0 days of wait anywhere on the District — no orders are waiting.

“Oldest standing order” is when the longest-waiting order on that ride was placed. Orders are filled by seniority and, within that, first-call first-served.

Order water ON when you want it. Order it OFF when you're done. Every time. No exceptions. Not calling water “off” wastes a valuable resource; not calling it “on” takes carefully managed water away from other water-right holders and crops.

• The maximum length of a single water order is 8 days, so water moves through any wait list faster when demand rises.
• Orders run on a minimum 12-hour set and require 24-hour prior notice. Place them with your ditch rider or the web ordering system.
• Why 24 hours? From Upper Klamath Lake, water can take more than 96 hours to reach the far end of some canals — and it moves slower at lower flows. Once water is on its way to your order, KID cannot put it back in the lake; once it passes your turnout or pump, it is gone from your account as if it were delivered.
• Use water only on permitted acres, in a beneficial manner. Water running down roads, into drains, or sitting unused in ditches is a violation — addressed immediately.
• Waste water or break the rules and it costs you. Under Section 3 of the Water Delivery Policy, consequences escalate: written warning, then fines up to $5,000, then shut-off of delivery.

Idling acres was one of the most effective ways to keep water moving this season. Both idling programs are now closed for new enrollment in 2026.

KID's Surface Water Abatement Program (SWAP) — 1,022 acres enrolled

SWAP paid patrons who could take enrolled acres completely off KID surface water for the rest of 2026 using an alternate water source they control. The goal was to free up wet water — not paper water — so the District could keep irrigating later into the season. Enrollment closed July 1 with 1,022 acres signed up. If you are already enrolled, contact the District office with any questions.

Drought Response Agency (DRA) — closed for 2026

The Klamath Project Drought Response Agency offered three idling programs this year (No Irrigation, Limited Irrigation, and a Five-Year option). The 2026 application window closed June 15. Program details remain posted at klamathwaterbank.com; for current status, contact the DRA at (541) 630-0752 · info@klamathwaterbank.com.

1. Place water orders through your ditch rider or the web system with the required 24-hour prior notice — and remember every order must be both “on” and “off.” Wait lists can return as summer demand peaks.
2. Run at least a 12-hour set and use water only on permitted acres in a beneficial manner. Runoff, idle water, and out-of-policy use are violations.
3. Idling programs: both KID's SWAP and the DRA programs are now closed for new 2026 enrollment. The 1,022 acres enrolled in SWAP remain in the program for the season.
4. Questions about your account, an existing enrollment, or your options? Call the District office and we'll help you think it through.

Two things are happening on the refuges at once: an avian botulism outbreak at Tule Lake that is currently being held in check, and the largest waterbird hatch the basin has seen in over a decade at Lower Klamath. Water is the primary tool in both situations — for controlling disease and for keeping young birds alive to fledging.

Tule Lake Refuge — botulism status: manageable

Water remains the primary tool for both disease control and wildlife survival. A flow-through pilot is urgently needed to raise sump levels, keep water moving, and prevent a rapid escalation of botulism. KID proposed a flow-through approach of this kind in 2023, as the Section 7(a)(3) Applicant for the 2024 Proposed Action; it was not adopted by the agencies.

Lower Klamath Refuge — the largest hatch in a decade

The Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge is currently hosting the largest waterbird hatch our basin has witnessed in over ten years. Thousands of young birds are on the water — and we are in a critical race against time to support them. USFWS' immediate priority is securing and keeping enough water on the ground to sustain these nesting areas and ensure this historic generation of birds can successfully fledge.

The deficit is the whole story. Twelve cfs delivers roughly 24 acre-feet a day. Evapotranspiration is taking about 300 acre-feet a day off Unit 2 alone. The Thomas Transfer is a helpful tool, but at those rates it offsets only a small fraction of the daily loss — it is vastly insufficient against summer heat. That gap is the ongoing, urgent case for more robust water solutions on the refuges.

The number, in perspective: 267,000 acre-feet would have evaporated this year off Lower Klamath Lake alone — under natural conditions. More, if the summer runs warm. Yet the entire Klamath Project is allowed only 221,000 acre-feet — less than what a single former lakebed would have given up to the sky.

Put to work on Project farms, that water does more than grow a crop. It returns to the former lakes and marshlands, supplements the local micro-climate, and recharges the shallow aquifer — all while growing food and fiber for the nation.

Over recent weeks we have met repeatedly with the leadership of our sister districts to make sure we share a clear, common understanding of the damage and harm facing the communities we all serve. Our assessment is direct: Reclamation's 2026 Operations Plan has failed.

The KID Board of Directors provided clear and adequate guidance throughout this process. Even so, the anxiety of the year led Reclamation to issue guidance that conflicted with our contracts, conflicted with Reclamation's own letters out of Washington, D.C., conflicted with Department of the Interior memos, and created confusion across districts — at a moment when capable managers and leadership are firmly in place in every one of those districts. Those conflicting edicts have since been rescinded, and the District has affirmed that any future conflicts of this kind will be addressed as our contract requires.

The Klamath Reclamation Project is operated by several irrigation and drainage districts. Each district is responsible for distributing and managing its own proportionate share of Project water, and each is planning its diversions according to its own authorities. KID cannot control every basin-wide program or every diversion in the Project — what KID can do is manage its own operations, reduce avoidable demand, account for every drop put to beneficial use, and enforce against waste.

Working within this plan is not an endorsement of Reclamation's Operations Plan. It is simply how we are choosing to operate given the limitations imposed on the Project's water supply for the 2026 irrigation season — limitations developed under the prior federal administration. We are doing the responsible thing within constraints we did not set, while continuing to press — through our contract and the proper channels — for the water our patrons are owed.

Beyond managing wait lists, KID is using every Board-authorized tool to reduce demand and prevent waste, consistent with the District's Water Delivery Policy and within federal Endangered Species Act limits and the currently applicable Incidental Take Statement:

• Self-regulating KID's daily diversion from Upper Klamath Lake, and managing the A Canal headworks and Miller Hill diversions to a KID-specific average rate — coordinating with the other diversion districts on a shared approach.
• Lowering the A Canal operating level by about 6 inches, where feasible, to reduce seepage losses through the canal banks.
• Transfers between accounts capped at 0.5 acre-feet per acre, per month; KID is also evaluating whether future transfers should be ineligible for DRA validation.
• Running every recirculation pump upgraded by KBID (KBID invested nearly $1 million; the pumps target 0.75 AF/acre).
• Incorporating equitable, periodic Return Flow adjustments to Diversion Works volumes, as applicable, throughout the season.

In short, three things at once: cut the demand KID must divert, get more value from every acre-foot, and eliminate waste.

Regardless of how the year unfolded, the districts are now working together toward a single shared vision:

• Keep water moving as long as we can. We will make every effort, and use every available resource, to keep water deliveries going through September 30 — and current projections show us on track to reach it.
• Stay within the lake's hard limit. We will not exceed the 221,000 acre-foot cap on Upper Klamath Lake water. Going beyond it would exceed the incidental take limits set in the 2024 Biological Opinions — crossing it would carry financial, legal, and political consequences the Project cannot afford.
• Use every tool we have. With the idling enrollment windows now closed, reaching September 30 turns on disciplined daily diversion management and the acres already idled.
• We are stretching every drop. The math does not work on paper. But we are using every resource we have to squeeze that math toward a better result for the Project — and that work is showing in the numbers.

Questions?

Questions about your account, your water, your wait-list status, or an existing SWAP enrollment?

District Office: (541) 882-6661 · Office hours 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Drought Response Agency: (541) 630-0752 · info@klamathwaterbank.com · klamathwaterbank.com