Owyhee Reservoir could have carryover of160,000 acre-feet
ONTARIO, Ore. — There could be as much as 160,000 acre-feet of carryover water left in the Owyhee Reservoir when the 2016 irrigation season ends.
That’s less carryover water than would be expected during an average year but, due to extended drought conditions that broke this winter, much more than the reservoir has ended the irrigation season with since 2012.
The reservoir provides water to 118,000 acres of irrigated farmland in Eastern Oregon and part of southwestern Idaho.
“It feels a lot better,” than the last several years, Owyhee Irrigation District Manager Jay Chamberlin said about the 2016 water year. “I think overall it’s going to be a good season.”
In an average water year, the Owyhee system will end the season with about 350,000 to 400,000 acre-feet of water that farmers can bank on for the next year. During good water years, that number is as much as 500,000 acre-feet.
The reservoir can hold a maximum of 710,000 acre-feet of storage water for irrigators.
As of Aug. 9, there was 277,000 ace-feet of storage water left in the reservoir and about 3,000 acre-feet has been leaving the system each day.
Chamberlin said that based on current trends, there should be more than 100,000 acre-feet left at the end of the season.
“(That’s) still a long way from normal, but when you’ve come off those really, really tough years that we’ve had, that gives you a lot more hope heading into next year,” he said. “We’re going to be in a lot better shape than we’ve been in.”
OID board member and farmer Bruce Corn estimates there will be between 120,000 and 160,000 acre-feet of carryover water left.
OID patrons get 4 acre-feet of water during a normal water year, like 2016, but only received a third of that amount in 2014 and 2015.
If there is around 150,000 feet of carryover water this year, growers would have a lot more breathing room heading into next year than they have enjoyed the past two years, when the reservoir finished the season with about 5,000 acre-feet of carryover water.
“It gives you a little bit of a cushion” heading into 2017, Corn said. “Exactly how much carryover water we will end up with remains to be seen. But certainly we should be over 100,000 acre-feet.”
Corn and Chamberlin said it’s likely that irrigation water will be shut off about the first of October, a couple weeks earlier than normal, in an effort to ensure as much carryover water as possible.
The OID board will probably decide on a firm shutoff date during its Aug. 23 meeting, Corn said.
Most of the area’s high-water crops are about two weeks ahead of normal, Corn said, which means September irrigation usage should be way down.
“I’d be surprised if we go past that” early October date, Chamberlin said. “Our crops are coming off early (and) I think that will help and nobody hopefully will come up short on water.”