Farms, fish on Oregon-California border to get less water

The Associated Press

3 years ago

FILE - In this March 3, 2020, file photo, is the Iron Gate Dam, powerhouse and spillway are on the lower Klamath River near Hornbrook, Calif. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said this week that it won't release water into the main canal that feeds the massive Klamath Project irrigation system, marking the first time in 114 years that no water has flowed in the so-called A Canal. The agency announced last month that irrigators would get dramatically less water than usual, but a worsening drought picture means water will be completely shut off instead, the agency said. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Farmers who rely on a federal irrigation project on the California-Oregon border will get one-seventh of the Klamath River water they would receive in a wetter year as historic drought grips the U.S. West.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation didn’t release any water to irrigators in 2021 and says this year farmers will see their allocations fall further if they divert water illegally.

The Bureau releases water seasonally from a lake that must be kept at a certain level to protect an endangered fish species that’s important to the Klamath Tribes.

Downstream tribes are also fighting to save Klamath River salmon.