Friday, July 15, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Conversation with Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Camille Touton,
who leads the federal agency that
oversees water management in 17
Western states, traveled last week
through Oregon and California,
visiting projects and meeting with
concerned communities.
Touton started her week in
the Klamath Basin and ended it
near the California-Mexico bor-
der. Thursday, she sat down for an
exclusive virtual interview with
the Capital Press.
The conversation centered on a
major theme: The West likely isn’t
getting any more water, so what is
Reclamation’s plan for better man-
aging the water the region does
get?
Klamath Basin
The Klamath Basin, straddling
Oregon and California, is a cen-
ter of confl ict where farmers and
ranchers compete with tribes and
fi sh managers for scarce water
during the ongoing drought.
Reclamation manages the
Klamath Project under its interim
operations plan, a formula that
determines how much water to
allocate to irrigators versus other
uses. The plan is a stand-in until
Biological Opinions dictating proj-
ect operations are updated, which
happens about every fi ve years.
Critics say the timeline makes the
plan unworkable.
The current interim plan is set
to expire Sept. 30. Many farmers,
ranchers and tribal members are
urging Reclamation not to extend
the interim operations plan and
instead to do annual consultations
to determine allocations, which
they say would be more fl exible
and based on current conditions.
The Capital Press asked Tou-
ton if she will consider granting
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Camille Touton, center, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, during a tour of the Klam-
ath Basin.
Interior Department offi cials tour the Klamath Basin during a visit
June 27-28.
would look like,” said Touton.
Asked whether she sees the
Klamath Project as sustainable
with its current model and scale,
Touton said, “I don’t want to spec-
ulate on that.”
So, what is Touton’s game
plan for the Klamath Basin? The
commissioner said which tools
her agency uses in the basin will
depend on which tools local part-
ners — including irrigation dis-
tricts and tribes — welcome.
She said potential tools, funded
in part by the bipartisan infra-
structure act Congress passed last
year, could include repairs to aging
infrastructure, conservation effi -
ciencies and new piping.
this request. The commissioner
declined to give a defi nite yes
or no, but she didn’t rule out the
option.
Some irrigation districts are
interested in modernizing their
systems, including replacing open
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
CELEBRATING 31 YEARS
IN THE AGRICULTURAL
MACHINERY BUSINESS.
Proud
Supporter of
canals with high-density poly-
ethylene piping, which loses less
water to evaporation.
The Capital Press asked Touton
if she supports piping and similar
modernization. Her answer was
yes, but she added the caveat that
what’s right for a particular com-
munity or geographic region var-
ies and is not solely Reclamation’s
decision.
“Some tools that work in the
Klamath won’t work in Yakima or
won’t work for the Imperial Val-
ley,” said Touton. “That’s why I’m
traversing (the West), to just really
fi rsthand see what our partners are
seeing, listen to them and then use
the tools (Reclamation has) to say,
‘This is what’s right for you.’ You
want to pressurize? Great. Let’s
use this program that I have. … It’s
really a conversation about what
works for them, not Reclamation
just saying, ‘This is what we’re
going to do.’”
“I would just say we’re having
a conversation on a lot of fronts,
including, you know, what a year
operation (annual consultations)
Modernization
Storage projects
In the past 18 months, Recla-
mation has invested hundreds of
millions of dollars in new water
storage across the West — for
example, by raising dams.
Some regions, however, have no
new storage projects on the hori-
zon. For example, Oregon doesn’t
have any storage projects planned
with Reclamation. The Capital
Press asked Touton why not.
“I think it goes back to what we
talked about: what makes sense for
what community and what they
want,” said Touton.
Reclamation’s recent storage
investments, she said, have largely
been in California, where she said
partners are prioritizing storage as
a need.
Touton said she plans to con-
tinue touring the West to bet-
ter understand which tools and
infrastructure best suit specifi c
communities.
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