April 10, 2024
RRVID’s crew and staff are working hard to prepare our district for the upcoming water season. Both the main canal and all of the laterals have been cleaned and are ready to run water for the 2024 season. We have decent snowpack this year, which I am hoping equates to more water in the reservoirs. We are still in a low water state in the reservoirs as far as storage, but we are ahead of where we were last year at this time. I believe that we will have stream flow this year that I can take advantage of early in the season, and I won’t have to rely so heavily on the water that we have in storage quite so early in the season, like we have had to do the last several years. I am hoping that we will be able to pull off a “close to normal” irrigation season for 2024. I won’t go so far as to say we will get all the way to October, but I believe that I can get us close. As far as starting water this year, I am expecting to start putting water in the canal during the week of April 15th, depending on weather and it may be the following week or later, before you will see the water in the ditch. Please stay in contact with the district for updates on our start date. I encourage you to check the homepage of our website or call our office between 8 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday.
That is the good news. Now for the not so good news.
RRVID has discovered that we have a failing 48″ pipe that runs underneath the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks. RRVID is in the process of obtaining the permits required by the railroad, in order for us to enter their property, which will allow us to do this repair. We are hoping to complete this work before we turn on water for the 2024 water season. If the repair cannot be completed by the start of water season, then once the permit is issued, our plan would be to shut down the west side of the district, on a Saturday morning. Repair the pipe, turn the water back on for normal deliveries late Saturday or early Sunday morning. The district will do our best to notify affected users. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Update on Fourmile Reservoir
RRVID is still very active in trying to protect our water within the Fourmile Reservoir. We will continue to fight this fight because of the impact it will have on the districts water supply, as well as the possible impacts it will have on the biological opinion that we fought so hard for and resulted in our non-jeopardy opinion. We have begun to have conversations with the Klamath Tribes regarding our concern about the call on Fourmile water. Again, the Klamath Tribes do have the senior water right to ours, but that does not mean that it is a good or a valid call and that is where we will continue to make our case.
Many of the issues that we will be raising fall under “Attorney Client Privilege” and therefore I am not at liberty to discuss this in depth at this time. I am more than happy to talk with you about it, but please understand ahead of time, that if you call me, I am limited in what I can discuss and what questions I can answer.
How this affects us, will depend on when the Klamath Tribes make a call. If the tribes make a year-round call, we may never see stored water in Fourmile again. If Klamath Lake fills, then the water call is not good and we go back to enjoying the storage that accumulates that year or we come up with a legal solution that allows us to use the water even if the tribes make a call and Klamath Lake is not full.
Please be assured that myself, as well as the RRVID Board of Directors, M I D and T I D and along with our legal team … we are doing everything we can to protect the water that the Rogue Valley lrrigators have enjoyed for well over 100 years. In closing, my hope is that we all have a very successful 2024 water season and we continue to get snow in the mountains and rain in the valley.
Sincerely,
Brian Hampson
District Manager