groundwater study group meets 111514 Upper Klamath KBRA

Our Klamath Basin Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/heraldandnews/default.aspx

Groundwater study group meets Nov. 18. Residents can find out more about groundwater rules

by LACEY JARRELL, Herald and News 11/15/14

{ KBC Note: The KBRA / Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement mandates Klamath Basin irrigators to have a groundwater management plan which will control how much groundwater an irrigator may use on their own property, mandating 'no adverse impacts'. What constitute an "adverse impact" will be decided by tribes, environmental groups, government agencies and a few farmers. Tulelake Irrigation District has already installed this mandate of the KBRA. However, they did tell their constituents that their plan "is not a requirement of...the KBRA..." and "will not regulate groundwater within the Plan area."}

Upper Basin water stakeholders are meeting next week to further plans for off-project groundwater rules.

The Oregon Water Resources Department rules advisory committee (RAC) — tasked with helping develop and refine groundwater rules for the Williamson, Sprague and Wood River drainages — will meet from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday. The public is invited to listen during the session, but the meeting’s purpose is to get feedback from the RAC to prepare a groundwater rules draft that can be published for public comment, according to a news release.

Residents can find out more about groundwater rules and the rules process that same night, at an open house at the Sprague River Community Center from 6 to 8 p.m. The open house will provide an opportunity for community members to interact with OWRD groundwater staff and ask questions about groundwater-related activities in the Basin, the release said.

Although the OWRD already has rules governing groundwater and surface water, the recently signed Upper Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement calls for the development of groundwater rules for the upper Klamath Basin within the Sprague, Williamson, and Wood river drainages, the release said.

The RAC meeting will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Mount McLoughlin Room at the Oregon Institute of Technology. The open house will be at the Sprague River Community Center from 6 to 8 p.m. Both events are on Tuesday.

For more information, call OWRD Field Services Administrator Doug Woodcock at 503-986-0878.

ljarrell@heraldandnews.com ; @LMJatHandN

====================================================

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml