Irrigation season starts but could be cut back early due to low snowpack, drought

4/6/26 Brooke Snavely, Reporter / Central Oregon Daily News

BEND, Ore. — The 2026 irrigation season is underway with water starting to flow through Central Oregon canals and farmers beginning to water their crops. The record low snowpack that bedeviled skiers this winter means less water for farming and the shortage will be seen and felt by the public.

Canals are diverting water from the Deschutes River and sending it to farmers through a series of gravity fed canals and ditches.

“It’s looking like we are going to have a pretty sparse water supply,” said Craig Horrell, managing director of the Central Oregon Irrigation District. “We have between 11- and 15% of normal snowpack. We have some full reservoirs but live flow will probably drop out about July, we think.”

At the moment, Wickiup Reservoir is at 93% capacity and is effectively full. It’s the highest it’s been in several years. But with irrigation season starting, compounded by drought conditions, water managers expect this reservoir to drop very quickly this summer.

“I think Wickiup’s going to be taken down to pretty low levels this year. This is the fullest Wickiup has been in a long time. We are hopeful we can leave a little water in Wickiup. North Unit is planning to leave some water for carry over for next year,” Horrell said.

Putting water into the main canals is not like turning on a faucet and having “instant water” everywhere. It’s more of a balancing act to prevent large fluctuations of flows in the Deschutes River. It takes several days for the water to flow through miles of canals before it reaches farmers in sufficient quantity to be applied to crops.

“Usually when you have a good year, you get a good reservoir. Then a drought year, it’s the year after that hurts you, so if we can’t fill that reservoir next year, we are in big trouble,” Horrell said.

Given this year’s low natural streamflows, Central Oregon Irrigation District anticipates curtailing water deliveries sometime in July. For other irrigation districts with junior water rights, water curtailments could occur before then.

The public is reminded to stay out of irrigation canals. They have strong currents and are not designed for people to get in or out of.

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