Jo McIntyre and Scott Hogenson, CNSNews.com
Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Norton arrived in Portland, Ore., Tuesday to announce that U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been authorized to release 75,000 acre feet of water into the Klamath Basin Irrigation Project, which irrigates land for about 1,400 farmers.

"The reason I am taking this action is because the Bureau of Reclamation has been taking measurements and has determined that Upper Klamath Lake is at a higher level than projected," she said in a statement.

The water had been shut off since April following an Endangered Species Act lawsuit that kept the water from the farms. Local farm officials are expected to coordinate the water release, which could begin as soon as today, officials said.

Norton said the water level in the lake was higher than projected because of conservation and recent "scattered thunderstorms that have provided much-needed rain to the area and the lake."

About 10,000 acre feet of the release is needed just to recharge the irrigation canals, and Norton said the release would amount to about 25 percent of the normal amount of irrigation water farmers use during the season.

The denial of irrigation water in the Klamath Basin, which has been made available to farmers there for nearly a century, is hoped to "save pastures, alfalfa and hay, or even row crops that have recently lost their well water supply," she said.

Residents in recent weeks have attempted to cause an unauthorized release of water for irrigation, but those efforts were met with federal agents who guarded the headgates of the dam holding back the water.

According to Norton, the release is hoped to provide "a little relief to some desperate farm families during the remainder of this season," but the water supply is insufficient to service both farmland and adjacent national wildlife refuges.

Norton's announcement follows a weekend request by Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger that the U.S. Park Police leave the headgates of the irrigation canals, which had been under guard to prevent unauthorized water releases.

"We don't know the community the way that local officials know the community," said Norton. "We want to provide the appropriate level of law enforcement and support."

Some residents resented the presence of federal law enforcement authorities. Norton said: "We want to just insure that there are no future problems. We don't want to have any sorts of confrontations or problems."

While there have been a number of demonstrations by residents regarding the water issue, they have been peaceful.

The announcement of the water release cames while Congress was in the midst of a partial effort to examine the situation and look for solutions.

House members traveled to the Klamath Basin for hearing earlier this summer and heard testimony from residents and officials, but substantive action has yet to be taken by Congress.

In the Senate, the pace has been even slower. An official with the office of Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, indicated that hearings on the situation in the Klamath Basin would be held sometime before October.

Copyright CNSNews.com

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