KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects adequate irrigation supplies from Upper Klamath Lake this year.

Specific details on projected demand and total supply were not provided in a March 6 letter from the agency to Paul Simmons, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association.

The association, which received the document March 11, called the development “encouraging” in a post on its website.

The president of the Klamath Irrigation District said the letter seemed exciting at first but wasn’t a binding legal document and provided “false hope” to farmers and other water users.

“It’s still not full deliveries for everybody in the basin and here we’ve had the wettest winter in at least 30 years,” added Rodney Cheyne, a fifth-generation farmer who grows hay and grain and also raises cattle.

Letter details

The Bureau of Reclamation thinks it will be possible to satisfy settlement and repayment contractors (“A” water users) and Warren Act surplus water contractors (“B” water users) based on current and anticipated hydrologic conditions in the Upper Klamath Basin.

“C” water users, who are rental contractors, were not mentioned in the document.

“Confirmation of favorable water delivery expectations is dependent on hydrologic conditions between now and April 1. Reclamation anticipates that water will be available beginning April 1,” the letter states.

Less than allotted

Cheyne said that the Bureau of Reclamation has indicated in operations meetings that growers will be able to get to 2.5 acre-feet with well pumping, but the majority of the basin has an allotment of 3.5 acre-feet.

“If you just take what the bureau is allowing us peasants to have, it’s 2.1-acre feet,” Cheyne said.

He added during an interview on March 14 that the Klamath River had record flows, with water rushing into the Pacific Ocean, and Upper Klamath Lake was expected to go into flood operations.

“The fact we’re even having to talk about well-pumping later this season with a winter this wet is absurd,” Cheyne said.

Calls to the Klamath Water Users Association, KWUA officials and other Klamath Basin farmers weren’t immediately returned on March 14.