Applicants in Central Oregon have won most of the state’s water supply grants this year, building on a trend that’s raising concerns among some state water regulators.

Of the six water grants approved by the Oregon Water Resources Commission this year, four went to projects in Deschutes and Crook counties, representing 87% of the total $14 million awarded.

Competitive advantage

“The way the program is structured now, they’re always going to be at a competitive advantage,” said Joe Moll, commissioner and executive director of a conservation group.

“We’re tacitly saying that’s OK because good stuff is happening and anywhere it happens in Oregon is great,” he said. “But it’s not an equitable situation in the current approach.”

More projects have been proposed and approved in the region than any other since 2016, when the water supply development grant program began, according to the state’s Water Resources Department, which the commission oversees.

“There is a concentration of applications around Central Oregon,” said Kim Fritz-Ogren, OWRD’s section manager for planning, collaboration and investments.

Though some commission members questioned why other areas haven’t been as successful, they credited the initiative shown by Central Oregon irrigators and other applicants.

“The general organization and strategic approach of that basin is serving it well,” said Eric Quaempts, commissioner and natural resources director for a tribal government.

However, Quaempts asked whether more projects from other regions can expect to be proposed and approved in the next cycle.

How projects are ranked

Central Oregon has benefited from a longer history of investment in irrigation modernization, partly because the region has more capital and resources than other areas, said Moll.

Moll said he’s glad the commission is considering the equity of the grant review process, in which projects are ranked according to their environmental, social and economic impacts.

The technical review team that analyzes the applications must use those criteria, but the commission can also consider the type, size and location of projects as additional factors.

While the commission has the discretion to alter the funding recommendations, that’s unlikely to happen under its current approach to approving grants, said April Snell, executive director of the Oregon Water Resources Congress, which represents irrigation districts.

Commissioners may be reluctant to overrule the project rankings because they may not necessarily have all the information about how subjective criteria were applied, she said.

“It’s been difficult for the commission to make a different decision,” Snell said.

The technical review team’s “lack of consistent scoring” has been “an ongoing issue with the program,” which can be changed without legislation or formal rule-making, according to the Oregon Water Resources Congress.

Should law be revised?

It’d be helpful to revise the statutes governing the grant program, created a decade ago under Senate Bill 839, but “I just don’t think there’s the political appetite to do that,” Snell said. “Some of our districts found the 839 process to be overly cumbersome in relation to the amount of money available, which is traditionally not very much.”

Since the grant program became operational seven years ago, the commission has approved 43 projects totaling about $57 million in grants, including those funded this year.

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers allocated another $10 million for the water supply development grants, as well as $50 million for irrigation modernization investments.

Those funds can further unlock matching dollars from the federal government, though the time to do so is limited under congressional infrastructure legislation.

To maximize federal funding, the agriculture industry wants the OWRD to adopt a nimble process for spending the $50 million.

“We did not quite get the clarity we were hoping for in how that legislation came out, but I think we have a pathway,” Snell said.

Which projects funded

In 2023, the agency received 10 grant applications requesting $29 million, which was $15 million more than was available. Following is the description of the six projects that did receive funding:

• The Ochoco Irrigation District and Deschutes River Conservancy were awarded $4 million for a project that involves building a pump station, 6-mile pipeline and on-farm irrigation infrastructure in Crook County for a total cost of $45 million.

• The East Fork Irrigation District in Hood River County was awarded about $1.5 million toward the total $3.8 million cost of replacing a 3-mile pipeline made of wood and unreinforced concrete with a plastic pipeline. The project includes pressure-reducing equipment that will prevent overflows and save water.

• The Arnold Irrigation District in Deschutes County won $2.9 million that will go toward replacing more than 4 miles of open canal with pipes. The total project will cost about $12.5 million and conserve water by preventing leakage.

• The North Unit Irrigation District in Deschutes County was awarded $5 million toward a project that will cost more than $20 million and involve replacing nearly 6.5 miles of open canal with piping, reducing water lost to seepage.

• The Trout Unlimited nonprofit has won more than $250,000 to replace a flood irrigation system in Jackson County with a center pivot, wheel lines and other more efficient irrigation equipment. The total project, expected to cost about $315,000, will reduce leakage by moving a point of diversion to eliminate more than 2 miles of open canal.

• The Tumalo Irrigation District was awarded about $2.2 million of a project estimated to cost nearly $5.5 million, which will restore flows in a Deschutes County creek by replacing more than 2 miles of open canals with pipe.