Our region is experiencing extreme drought. Agriculture communities are deeply impacted by the short and long-term impacts of drought. An official declaration of drought, when recognized by the governor, allows farmers to tap into state and federal resources that might not otherwise be available.

Drought declarations typically go through a three-part process before securing a state drought declaration from the Governor. First, a county commission submits a request for a state drought declaration to the Office of Emergency Management. Second, the Water Availability Committee, chaired by the Water Resources Department, meets to evaluate information on weather and water supply conditions and subsequently make recommendations to Oregon’s Drought Council. Co-chaired by the Water Resources Department and the Office of Emergency Management, the Drought Council assesses the impact of drought conditions and makes recommendations to the Governor’s Office on whether to declare drought in an area.

A state drought declaration allows the Water Resources Department to offer certain tools to water right holders in a drought-declared county. These tools provide expedited review processes, reduced fee schedules, and are intended to be short-term emergency authorizations, not permanent solutions to deal with water supply challenges. Water right holders seeking long-term solutions should first contact their irrigation district watermaster to help identify what options may exist.

It is impossible to predict live flow and how it translates to reductions or deliveries. As drought conditions continue, please be prepared for water reductions (curtailment).

Curtailment is a reduction in irrigation water deliveries when available supply cannot meet demand. This may occur due to low river flows, limited reservoir storage, drought conditions, or regulatory requirements. Curtailments can include:

• Reduced delivery rates 
• Rotational schedules 
• An early end to the irrigation season 

As supplies tighten, having a plan in place can make a significant difference. Reduced availability may limit how your system operates, making early adjustments important.

Identify priorities, understand your system’s limits, and consider ways to stretch available water. Address potential loss points—such as unlined ponds or inefficient ditches and stay on top of maintenance to make the most of what is available.

COID’s water supply comes from natural (live) streamflow from the Deschutes River and supplemental storage from Crane Prairie Reservoir.

Live flow is what the river is running at any time based on natural conditions (snowmelt, rain, dry weather). 

Snowpack is one indicator of how much water will be available in the region in the spring and throughout the irrigation season. Snowmelt from accumulated snowpack is an important source of water for people and ecosystems. In 2021, high spring and early summer temperatures eliminated the above-normal snowpack achieved during the winter resulting in little no snowmelt runoff.

During the irrigation season, the Pilot Butte Canal loses up to 50 percent of water to evaporation and seepage. Piping the canal will mitigate these losses and conserve a significant portion of this water, providing more efficient delivery to customers.

In 2016, COID released the first phase of a plan to modernize our 100-year-old system. Due to the nature of open canals, COID must withdraw nearly double the amount of water needed to compensate for the seepage loss. 

COID is focused on large-scale piping projects, which can be combined with voluntary efforts by landowners who undertake on-farm improvements. Water saved from seepage below and evaporation above can now go to the farm or stay in the river to help support wildlife conservation.

COID’s capital plan revolves around piping the entire length of the Pilot Butte Canal. The piping project will save 156 cubic feet per second (cfs) by eliminating evaporation and seepage and 69 cfs in on-farm efficiencies. This equates to 12 billion gallons of water annually.

In addition to large-scale piping projects, COID’s conservation efforts include:

• Water marketing programs that allow for more legal options to move water between districts.
• On-farm and past the Point of Delivery conservation projects.
• Working with legislators to provide financial relief for our farmers experiencing drought.

COID’s water supply comes from natural streamflow from the Deschutes River and supplemental storage from Crane Prairie Reservoir. Unlike some districts that mainly rely on stored water, COID generally only relies on stored water only in the shoulder seasons.

The collective effort that resulted in the HCP has opened the door to many millions of dollars of investments in the modernization of basin infrastructure. It’s this same collective effort that is needed to secure drought relief, facilitate voluntary water right transfers between farmers, and generate support and funding for larger-scale water management projects that benefit both farmers and ranchers and fish and wildlife.

Unlike some other basins in the West, the HCP provides some water supply protections. In 2022, District patrons were able to access much of their live flow and stored water supplies that were available even with the drought, while simultaneously supporting fish and wildlife habitat and remaining in compliance with the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This was not an accidental or unanticipated outcome of the HCP. Rather, it was something the districts, their regional partners, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spent 12 years planning for.

• Protects irrigation districts AND endangered species in the Deschutes River.
• Provides certainty and predictability for water users and endangered species.
• Provides flexibility in drought (or flood) situations.
• Provides a roadmap for all basin partners to contribute to restoration needs in the Deschutes Basin.
• Demonstrates that local entities working together can resolve potential ESA and agricultural conflicts.

Despite extreme and persistent drought conditions, adherence to the HCP means that irrigation districts are authorized to continue to access what limited water supplies are available during times of drought, and district patrons can rely on these supplies with confidence based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s approval of the HCP. Without the HCP, irrigation districts and their patrons would be at risk of further water shut-offs and endless court battles, whether the lawsuits are brought by the Federal government or third-party citizen groups.

The possibility of a drought is something the Districts recognized and painstakingly accounted for in the design of the HCP. The Districts now coordinate water management in real-time with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This coordination has made it possible to utilize the limited amount of water available for the mutual benefit of farmers, fish, and wildlife. Without this coordinated management, conditions for all concerned would be much worse.

In addition to providing multiple benefits for COID patrons (increased water reliability, operational efficiencies, and opportunities for pressurized water), there is a direct and significant benefit to North Unit farmers, who are junior water right holders. 

COID is taking a collaborative, comprehensive approach to improve water reliability in a way that does the most good for farmers, the community, and the environment. We are going about it the old-fashioned way of neighbors helping neighbors.

The amount of water that is saved through COID piping and other conservation measures will be shared with NUID and other junior water right holders to ensure that farmers have the water they need, even in dry years. NUID will then be able to make water available from our storage in Wickiup Reservoir to increase winter flows in the Upper Deschutes River and help meet the requirements of the HCP.

Working together, the Deschutes Basin irrigation districts, have been resourceful and innovative in securing funding and approvals for irrigation modernization efforts. COID’ Pilot Butte Canal piping project is the result of this effort and is funded through federal dollars.

The conserved water from the project is required to be used to help junior irrigators and the Deschutes River.

The amount of water that is saved through COID piping and other conservation measures is shared with NUID and other junior water right holders to ensure that farmers have the water they need, even in dry years.

When it comes to water use, Oregon state law does not favor certain crops over others or favor a particular kind of farming operation over another. State law also does not dictate that a water user must generate a certain amount of income from his or her water use. 

Whether a landowner is growing industrial hemp, carrot seed, or a hay crop, so long as irrigation water is used to grow a crop, the districts do not have the legal authority to make value judgments around whether the use of water by particular landowners is sufficiently productive.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the irrigation districts are in constant contact throughout the irrigation season. We are working collaboratively to meet the goals of the HCP and deliver water to district patrons. The HCP has provisions for ‘adaptive management,’ which provides irrigation and wildlife managers tools to adapt to conditions in the basin. In 2021 and 2022, USFWS and the irrigation districts used adaptive management tools to optimize the limited water supply for the best outcome possible for water users and wildlife. 

We are asking patrons to manage their water as efficiently as possible. If you are not using all of your water right, please notify your District office to ensure the water is managed to benefit agricultural demands. While there are no restrictions at this time (ADD DATE), you should be prepared for a possible reduction in water. We recommend you begin planning now for potential water supply shortages this summer. Please get in touch with your District if you don’t want or aren’t able to use your water efficiently.

The Oregon Water Resources Department maintains a drought website that provides the status of current water conditions and state drought declarations, as well as information on what you can do to use water wisely. Visit the drought website at: www.oregon.gov/OWRD/programs/climate/droughtwatch