Owyhee Irrigation District staff plan to pipe the first mile of the Kingman Lateral, a $5 million project funded by federal and Oregon sources.

The Adrian-area project, near a siphon that runs underneath the Owyhee River, aims to reduce water loss and make the adjacent embankment safer, district manager Clancy Flynn said. Open canal, partly concrete lined and partly earthen, will be converted to high-density polyethylene pipe that is 72 inches in diameter.

Water loss surveys conducted at various points on the approximately 10-mile lateral in 2018 quantified per-mile savings associated with lining, Flynn said.

“We are in the procurement stage,” he said. “We have done prep work.”

Construction is expected to start in the fall, after the irrigation season, Flynn said. Completion is targeted for spring 2026.

Funding sources are a $3 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency community grant for water infrastructure, and $2 million for irrigation modernization through the Oregon Water Resources Department from the sale of lottery revenue bonds.

“We do something every year,” Flynn said. “This is a larger project.”

Work most years involves piping laterals or portions of laterals, often with 36-inch or smaller pipe, at a cost of $300,000 to $500,000, he said.

The district supplies irrigation water to over 67,000 acres near Adrian, Nyssa and Ontario. Of the district’s approximately 1,800 customer accounts, about 300 irrigate fewer than 5 acres, Flynn said.

District water sources are Owyhee Reservoir and some Snake River pumping.