There is not enough water for Klamath Project farmers to meet demand in 2026.
K.I.D. changed operations — effective after the May 27 Special Board Meeting — to make the limited supply last as far into the season as possible: the water-order wait list is currently clear, and the current projection carries deliveries to September 30 — the shared goal K.I.D. and its patrons are working toward — with the available supply committed in full. Any water beyond that date is a blessing, not a promise.
At its August 12 meeting, the K.I.D. Board authorized and agreed that September 30 is the shared goal for the 2026 irrigation season. At current diversion rates the available supply is projected to carry deliveries to that date, committed in full — no surplus. Water available beyond September 30 would be a blessing; it is not something the District can promise on this year's supply. K.I.D. holds daily diversions no higher than conditions and demand require. (Method: a comparable shortage year (2023) blended with the current ODA outlook.)
Enterprise Irrigation District, and the K.B.I.D. acres served through Enterprise, received the full 0.75 acre-feet per acre Reclamation directed for Warren Act contractors in 2026. With that directed volume delivered, the operator ceased pumping on Friday, July 31, 2026. See K.I.D.'s Warren Act of 1911 page for how Warren Act priority and delivery work.
Where the Project's water stands
The projection shows the remaining 40,487 acre-feet delivered in full by September 30, the shared goal — the whole 221,000 acre-feet used, with the diversion rate going to zero as the season closes. Holding that plan takes a rate near 770 cfs through most of September, above the 653 cfs (1,295 acre-feet a day) the Project averaged in the last week of August. Actual diversions will follow demand; if they run lower, water is left at September 30 — and water available beyond that date is a blessing, not a promise. When the projected line runs above the gold reference, the supply is being drawn down faster than that pace; below it, slower.
Top of the watershed to the bottom of the Project. Rain in the upper basin — Beatty, Sprague River, Chiloquin — is what eventually reaches Upper Klamath Lake; rain on the Project floor mostly reduces demand rather than adding supply.
Seven-day outlook for Klamath Falls, read live each time this page loads. Heat drives demand — a hot, dry stretch pulls the remaining supply down faster; a cool or wet turn stretches it. Source: Open-Meteo, NWS model data.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture's Seasonal Climate Forecast, issued August 20 for September through November, blends to near-to-below-average temperatures and precipitation. It is built on the 1972, 1982 and 2023 analog years, each of which had a strengthening El Niño.
For September specifically, two of the three analogs flipped from warm and dry to cool and damp around mid-month, with above-average precipitation; the third stayed warm. A cooler, damper turn would ease crop demand and stretch the remaining supply — which is the single change most likely to decide whether deliveries carry to September 30. A warm, dry September would do the opposite. The forecaster flags that split as the main thing to watch, so treat it as a possibility, not a plan.
Pete Parsons walks through the September–November outlook — the analog years, the jet-stream pattern, and where his confidence is higher and lower. Also available as a PDF. Courtesy Oregon Department of Agriculture and Oregon Department of Forestry.
Looking further out, the same forecast carries near-to-below-average precipitation through November, and notes that Oregon's drought worsened over the past three months. That matters less for this season than for the next one. This is a seasonal outlook, not a forecast for any given day, and it is not affiliated with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Low water availability is the biggest delivery problem in the District. Everything else follows from it. With only 221,000 acre-feet deemed available, canals must be run at low flow with little or no spill — and at those flows a canal behaves like a pond, which is the condition moss grows fastest in. The moss then makes delivering water at those same low flows very difficult, clogging turnouts and slowing water to the field.
This is a basin-wide condition, not a K.I.D. one. The same growth is affecting canals across the Klamath Project, including the neighboring districts, and Reclamation is contending with it at Keno Dam, where it has made the Keno release target harder to hold. Within K.I.D. the worst of it is on the D and F1 canals. Chemical treatment does not reach every species present, and repeated use risks building resistance, so it is not a cure on its own.
K.I.D. will raise flows in the D and F1 canals for a short period to chain the moss out. Moving more water is the only durable way to clear these canals and restore delivery to turnouts. While that work is underway you may see higher flows and short-term changes at your turnout, and canal flows will return to normal operations afterward.
Cleaning individual patron turnouts would consume all of a ditch rider's time and would not fix the cause.
This flushing is accounted for within the 221,000 acre-feet shown above and does not change the September 30 goal.
The figures above describe the water. This is what it came to on the farm.
K.I.D. delivered 99,205 acre-feet to its lands this season through the A Canal and the Miller Hill pumps — about 0.81 acre-feet per acre across the roughly 122,000 acres those works serve. The District's full contract entitlement is 3.5 acre-feet per acre. Its historical average diversion duty, the amount actually taken in an ordinary year, is 2.24 acre-feet per acre.
Patrons made up the difference or went without. Ground came out of production — 1,022 acres through the District's own Surface Water Abatement Program, with more idled under the Drought Response Agency's programs. Where growers had wells, they pumped. Where they did not, crops were shorted, and some ground was not planted at all.
The District moved the same water more than once. Through August 15 the recirculation and return-flow pumps re-lifted 18,553 acre-feet back into the system for reuse — equal to another 0.15 acre-feet per acre, or roughly a fifth again on top of what was diverted from the lake. Every one of those pumps ran at full capacity from June 1 to August 8 to hold the Warren Act contract lands at their 0.75 acre-foot-per-acre allotment without drawing that water away from K.I.D. patrons. A permitted supplemental well added a further 936 acre-feet to offset KBID's demand.
The District also returned 23,786 acre-feet to Tulelake Irrigation District through the J Canal and the D spill — water that served K.I.D. ground first and then went on to serve someone else's.
Delivery, recirculation and return-flow figures are from K.I.D.'s daily tracking file. Recirculation is reported through August 15, the last date those pumps were logged. The 2.24 acre-feet per acre figure is K.I.D.'s historical average diversion duty from Reclamation's records for 1928–1946; it is a planning reference, not a limit on the 3.5 acre-feet per acre the contract provides.
There is more season left than there is water. K.I.D.'s water right runs to October 31. At the pace of the last week of August, the remaining supply covers roughly 29 to 36 days — running out somewhere between the end of September and the first week of October. Deliveries stop when the water is gone, not when the season ends on the calendar.
What this means for your orders. Water orders still require 24-hour prior notice, and the maximum single order remains 8 days. As the supply tightens, wait lists will return — place orders as early as you can and keep them as short as your ground allows, so more growers get a turn before the water is gone. Plan your final irrigation now rather than counting on late-season water: once the available supply is delivered, orders still on the books cannot be filled.
When deliveries end, canals are drawn down and the system is shut in for the winter. K.I.D. will post the closing dates on this page and notify patrons through the ditch riders as they are set. Questions about your account or your last set: call the District office at (541) 882-6661, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Your water in 2026
Senior water rights come first, and most K.I.D. accounts will be on a wait list at some point this year. Wait lists can return and grow to several days as summer demand peaks. Water orders require 24-hour prior notice.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- K.I.D. 13(a) “A contract” holders (1905 right) — junior to VBDC and Henley-Ankeny; orders are first-call, first-served.
- 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. (Why Warren Act lands are served in a dry year: see K.I.D.'s Warren Act of 1911 page.)
Where each ride stands
The wait list is managed by ride (your ditch-rider division). Here is where each ride stands as of August 31, 2026. No orders are currently waiting.
| Ride | Farmers waiting | Oldest standing order |
|---|---|---|
| Ride 1 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 2 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 3 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 4 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 5 | 1 | Jul 31 (2 days) |
| Ride 6 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 7 | None waiting | — |
| Ride 8 | None 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.
The rules — don't lose your water
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, K.I.D. 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.
Drought Response Agency (DRA)
The Klamath Project Drought Response Agency offered voluntary idling programs this year (No Irrigation, Limited Irrigation, and a Five-Year option). The 2026 application window closed June 15.
KWUA reports that the DRA's 2026 program exceeded its enrollment goal — the largest in the agency's history — with more than 50,000 acres enrolled — an estimate the DRA last updated July 28. The DRA is still reviewing applications, verifying enrollment, and finalizing acreage on its online public map, where you can check the parcels conditionally approved for your account (parcels not yet shown may still be pending review). Enrolled patrons will receive response letters directly and can review their submitted acreage once the map is updated. For details, see the KWUA July 2026 WaterWorks newsletter.
Through June, before either program's acreage was known, K.I.D. held diversions low and ran a wait list that peaked at 57 orders on June 23 — a hedge against over-committing the supply while demand was unsettled. As SWAP (1,022 acres, closed July 1) and DRA enrollment firmed up, the wait list was worked down. Enrollment concentrated in the one-year options rather than the Five-Year program — growers intend to keep farming, treating idling as a short-term bridge.
Program details remain posted at klamathwaterbank.com; for current status, contact the DRA at (541) 630-0752 · info@klamathwaterbank.com.
Refuge conditions — botulism and waterfowl mortality
Two things came together on the refuges this summer: an avian botulism outbreak at Tule Lake that worsened sharply with the heat, and the largest waterbird hatch the basin has seen in over a decade at both Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges. Water was the primary tool in both situations — for controlling disease and for keeping young birds alive to fledging. The water that moved through the districts in August did both.
Tule Lake Refuge — botulism outbreak, responding to water
Warm, stagnant water and low levels in Sump 1A drove a rapid rise in avian botulism at Tule Lake through the summer, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates more than 10,800 birds have died this year. The water moved through the districts to the sumps turned the outbreak around. Reported mortality has fallen from roughly 500 birds a day at the peak to about 35–40 a day, sump elevations rose, and USFWS crews continue removing carcasses daily.
Those deliveries ended August 24, when Upper Klamath Lake reached the elevation at which regulation resumed. Wildlife managers do not expect the outbreak to resolve fully until the first hard frost, and sustained water movement through the refuge wetlands remains the tool that works.
Water remains the primary tool for both botulism management and wildlife survival, and the current deliveries demonstrate it: moving water through the wetlands raised sump levels and cut daily mortality within days. That is the case for a durable flow-through arrangement rather than an emergency one. K.I.D. proposed such an approach in 2023, as the Section 7(a)(3) Applicant for the 2024 Proposed Action; it was not adopted by the agencies.
Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges — the largest hatch in a decade
Both refuges hosted the largest waterbird hatch our basin has witnessed in over ten years, and thousands of young birds were on the water when the sumps were at their lowest. Unit 2 reached its required elevation in time. Refuge crews banded more than 3,000 juvenile and flightless adult birds over two nights — birds that would very likely have been lost without water under them. At Lower Klamath, Unit 3 went nearly dry earlier in the season and habitat there was lost; return flows are now being moved to Unit 3 through the D plant to raise its elevation ahead of winter. 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.
Fall migration has begun. Early migrants are arriving and feeding in Klamath Drainage District and on leased fields. Unit 2 levels are declining again, because evapotranspiration is drawing more off the unit than the water now reaching it.
The deficit is the whole story: the Thomas Transfer's 12 cfs delivers roughly 24 acre-feet a day, while evapotranspiration is estimated to take about 30 acre-feet a day off Unit 2 alone. The transfer is a helpful tool, but at that rate it does little more than hold a single unit even — it leaves nothing to raise water levels, nothing for Unit 3, and nothing for the rest of the refuge. The 30 acre-feet per day figure is a conservative estimate; actual losses across the refuge are likely higher, which widens the gap further. That gap is the urgent case for more robust water solutions on the refuges. K.I.D. continues to work with its partners toward solutions that maintain a healthy ecosystem.
What worked in 2025 — and why it matters now
Last season showed what proactive water management can do. After the 2024 botulism outbreak, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff used new elevation data to identify which wetland areas were most at risk at which water depths, and alerted Tulelake Irrigation District and Reclamation early. Operations were adjusted, and daily mortality at Tule Lake fell from 100–200 birds a day to one or two. It is the same principle K.I.D. has pressed for here: move water through the wetlands before the disease takes hold, rather than after. Ducks Unlimited documented that effort in Engineering a Comeback: How Science and Collaboration Offer Hope for Klamath Basin.
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Background — the full story Why there isn't enough water · what K.I.D. is doing · our shared path forward
Why there isn't enough water
Reclamation forecast the 2026 Project water supply from Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River at 221,000 acre-feet — well below the Project's full irrigation demand. That shortfall is why deliveries are managed the way they are this year.
What the basin produced this water year. The shortage begins in the mountains. Peak snowpack reached only 4% of median, water-year precipitation 78% of median, and the water that actually arrived in Upper Klamath Lake — 755,694 acre-feet of net inflow — came in at 78% of the period-of-record median. Two independent measures of the watershed, the same answer. Rain on the valley floor ran closer to normal, but valley rain is not what fills the lake; mountain snow and runoff are.
The state recognized the same conditions. On May 12, 2026, Governor Kotek declared a drought emergency in Klamath County (Executive Order 26-08), citing basin snow water equivalent at 4% of normal.
The Klamath River Basin went from almost no drought to half the basin in drought in a single water year. The U.S. Drought Monitor tracks the basin as its own unit. On September 30, 2025 — the first day of this water year — 54% of the basin was drought-free and only 0.32% was in drought at all. As of August 18, 2026: no part of the basin is drought-free, 50.5% is in drought (D1–D4), and 15% is in severe or extreme drought (D2–D3) — extreme drought having more than doubled in the past week alone. Klamath County as a whole is 88.4% in drought, affecting 58,657 people, with its 16th-driest January through July in 132 years, about 5.17 inches below normal.
Sources: U.S. Drought Monitor, Klamath River Basin (released August 20, valid August 18) and NIDIS Klamath County conditions. NOAA's seasonal outlook has drought persisting through November.
Where that water went. These are water-year figures from K.I.D.'s daily tracking file and the federal gages, current to August 31. The water year runs October 1 to September 30 — a different clock than the irrigation season.
Read those last two together. Of the water that reached Upper Klamath Lake this water year, about 73% has passed over Keno Dam and gone down the Klamath River, and about 23% has been delivered to Project farms. Put another way, more than three acre-feet went down the river for every one delivered to a farm — 565,775 against 180,513. And 47,430 acre-feet of what went down the river was Project return flow: water the districts moved and sent back to help meet the Keno flow targets.
Net inflow and storage are Reclamation's measured record; Keno outflow is U.S. Geological Survey gage 11509500. Deferred Project Supply is Reclamation's accounting of Lost River Diversion Channel and F/FF pumping returns, as of August 13. The District's Water Dashboard carries these figures live, with the full daily record and the long-term context behind them.
The Klamath Reclamation Project is operated by several irrigation and drainage districts, and each district distributes and manages its own share of Project water under its own authorities. K.I.D. cannot control every basin-wide program or every diversion in the Project. What K.I.D. can do is manage its own operations, reduce avoidable demand, account for every drop put to beneficial use, and enforce its Water Delivery Policy against waste.
Operating within the supply figure Reclamation announced is not an endorsement of it. Under its 1954 Operations Contract, K.I.D. is a distribution agent: the contract contains no clause authorizing K.I.D. to apportion or ration Project water, and none authorizing Reclamation to assign K.I.D. a per-acre or volumetric share. K.I.D. is operating within the constraints placed on the 2026 supply while continuing to press — through its contract and the proper channels — for the water its patrons are owed. For the contract and water-right background, see K.I.D.'s Warren Act of 1911 page.
What K.I.D. is doing to stretch every drop
Beyond managing wait lists, K.I.D. is using every Board-authorized tool to reduce demand and prevent waste, consistent with the District's Water Delivery Policy and the constraints on 2026 Project operations:
- Self-regulating K.I.D.'s daily diversion from Upper Klamath Lake, and managing the A Canal headworks and Miller Hill diversions to a K.I.D.-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; K.I.D. 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 K.I.D. must divert, get more value from every acre-foot, and eliminate waste.
Surface Water Abatement Program (SWAP) — 1,022 acres idled (enrollment closed July 1)
SWAP is K.I.D.'s own idling program. It paid patrons who could take enrolled acres completely off K.I.D. surface water for the rest of 2026 using an alternate source they control — freeing up wet water, not paper water, so the District can keep irrigating later into the season. Enrollment closed July 1, 2026 with 1,022 acres signed up, and those acres stay off surface water for the season. Patrons already enrolled can contact the District office with any questions.
Our shared path forward
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 for as long as the supply lasts. At current diversion rates, the available supply is projected to carry deliveries to September 30, committed in full. Anything past that date is a blessing.
- Stay within the announced supply. The Project will operate within the 221,000 acre-feet Reclamation made available for 2026.
- Use every tool we have. With the idling enrollment windows now closed, how far the supply carries 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.
Water Year 2027 begins October 1. On that date the accounting on this page resets — inflow, deliveries and the supply figures all start over on a new year. What does not reset is the condition of the basin.
Two things will decide next year's supply, and neither is settled yet:
- What the basin carries into winter. Upper Klamath Lake finishes this season well down from its April peak of 573,848 acre-feet. Whatever remains is the starting point, and a low start means the winter has more ground to make up.
- What falls as snow between October and March. This is the one that matters most. Peak snowpack in 2026 reached 4% of median — the reason this year turned out as it did. Next year's supply is decided in the mountains long before the first order is placed.
The signals available now are not encouraging. The Klamath River Basin ended this water year with no part of it drought-free, against 54% a year ago. NOAA's seasonal outlook carries drought persisting through November. The Oregon Department of Agriculture's September–November forecast blends to near-to-below-average precipitation, with a strengthening El Niño expected to reach very strong by winter.
None of that is a forecast of next year's allocation. It is the starting position. A wet winter can still change the picture — the basin has done it before, and 2025 refilled after six dry years. But a basin that begins the year in drought needs an above-average winter simply to return to normal, and the District plans on what arrives rather than on what is hoped for.
K.I.D. will publish the 2027 supply picture on this page as it develops — snowpack through the winter, Reclamation's determination in the spring, and the season's operations as they run. The 2026 record above stays where it is.
Questions?
Questions about your account, your water, your wait-list status, or an existing idling 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
