Above normal Owyhee snowpack raises irrigators’ hopes
Snowpack in the Owyhee River basin is well above normal for this time of year, which is a positive early sign for farmers in Eastern Oregon who receive their irrigation water from the Owyhee Reservoir.
“It’s certainly a good start and good news,” said Malheur County farmer Bruce Corn, a member of the Owyhee Irrigation District board of directors. “We’re still quite early in the season ... but we’re cautiously optimistic.”
The reservoir provides water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 irrigated acres in Eastern Oregon and part of Southwestern Idaho.
Those farms received their full 4 acre-foot allotment of irrigation water in 2016 after receiving only a third of their allotment in 2014 and 2015 because of drought conditions.
There was 166,000 acre-feet of carryover water in the reservoir at the end of the 2016 water year, less than normal but much more than what was left in 2015 and 2014.
The reservoir had 205,000 acre-feet of water as of Dec. 21.
Total snowpack in the Owyhee basin was 144 percent of average as of Dec. 22.
With the current abundant snowpack, “We’re in a much better position than where we’ve been the past several years,” Corn said. “We have a ways to go but things are looking promising.”
Across the border in Idaho, total snowpack in the Boise River basin is at 99 percent of normal.
Carryover water levels in Boise River reservoirs is comparable to last year and about average, said Tim Page, manager of the Boise Project Board of Control, which provides 167,000 acre-feet of water to five irrigation districts in Southwestern Idaho and part of Eastern Oregon.
“We’re on par for course,” he said.
But Page and other water managers stressed that it’s early in the season and a lot more snow is needed.
“This is a really good start,” said Greg Curtis, water superintendent of the Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District, which provides water to 69,000 acres. “But we need to see it continue. It needs to keep going.”
A lot of things can happen between now and spring, when the 2017 water season begins, said Mark Zirschky, manager of Pioneer Irrigation District, which provides water to 5,800 patrons.
But, “At this point at least, what we’re seeing in the hills is good,” he said. “I think the outlook is promising. As long as it stays cold and stays there, we should be in good shape.”
Snowpack in the Payette River basin is at 90 percent of normal and it’s 68 percent of normal in the Weiser River basin.
“We’re still in need of a lot more snow,” said Weiser Irrigation District Chairman Vernon Lolley. “We have a long ways to go to get to where we need to be.”
He said the district ended 2016 with a little bit of reservoir carryover water and if snowpack reaches about 85 percent of average, that should be enough to assure an adequate water supply for the district’s patrons in 2017.