Senior water rights come first, and most KID accounts will be on a wait list at some point this year. As of June 23, 47 farmers are on the wait list — some since June 10, now including Article 13(a) (“A contract”) holders — and we anticipate wait lists growing to several days by mid-July. Per District policy, water orders still require 24-hour prior notice.

To make the water last through the end of September, KID has cut its own daily draw from Upper Klamath Lake. That is part of why wait lists are needed, and those wait lists have already started.

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, and wait lists have begun.
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 June 23, 2026. The longest wait anywhere on the District is currently 13 days.

“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.

• New — effective June 24, 2026: the maximum length of a single water order is now 8 days (reduced from 15), so water moves through the wait list faster.
• 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 remains one of the most effective ways to keep water moving. The DRA payment programs have closed for 2026; KID's own SWAP is still open through July 1.

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.

KID's Surface Water Abatement Program (SWAP)

Run by KID · 1,500-acre cap · First-come, first-served · Effective on signature. Take dry acres off KID surface water and we pay you — up to $160/acre. Enroll through July 1, 2026.

SWAP pays patrons who can take enrolled acres completely off KID surface water for the rest of 2026 using an alternate water source they control (such as a well or on-farm storage). The goal is to free up wet water — not paper water — so the District can keep irrigating later into the season. Payment steps down by how much surface water an account has already taken this year, because that is how much real water enrollment actually frees:

Enroll through July 1, 2026 — KID's program enrollment deadline. Cash is paid after season-end verification that no further surface water was taken on the enrolled acres; credit applies to your 2027 assessment.

Key eligibility: acres inside KID boundaries; a valid Oregon water-right certificate or permit for those acres; under one foot (1.00 AF/acre) of surface water taken; not enrolled in any DRA program; Warren Act (“B” contract) lands are not eligible at this time. To enroll, contact the KID District office.

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.” We anticipate wait lists growing to several days by mid-July.
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. Idle acres: KID's SWAP remains open through July 1, 2026 (contact the KID office — first-come, first-served, 1,500-acre cap). The DRA application window has closed.
4. Not sure which option fits? Call the District office and we'll help you think it through.

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.
• 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 DRA enrollment window now closed, reaching September 30 turns on disciplined daily diversion management and the acres already idled — together with KID's SWAP, open through July 1.
• 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.

Questions?

Questions about your account, your water, your wait-list status, or 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