Published annually by the Morrow County Soil & Water Conservation District
Does Morrow County meed
am irrigation district?
Landowners in Morrow
County north of the baseline
have been asking for quite a
few years, do we need an
irrigation district? What can it
accomplish?
Recent developments in
Morrow County seem to make
these questions more appro
priate at this time.
Let's attempt to answer the
question-do we need an irri
gation district in Morrow
County?
First, to form an irrigation
district there must be interest
on the part of landowners. The
annual meeting of the Morrow
Oregon Irrigation Guide
By ELWIN A. BOSS,
Area Engineer,
Soil Conservation Service,
Bend, Ore.
Irrigation practices used in
Oregon have been and are
undergoing dramatic
changes.
Long established methods of
application needing ample
supplies of water and hand
labor are being replaced with
mechanical systems which
apply water much more
efficiently using less hand
labor.
New lands now being placed
under irrigation are farther
from water sources and this
requires complex systems of
pumps, motors, controls,
buried supply lines, and
modern equipment and
methods to apply water to the
land.
A program to determine the
intake rates of each major soil
type was started in 1967.
Intake rates for sprinkler and
Meet the speakers. . .
I TTf
ITV
QUENTIN BOWMAN
Soil and Water Conservation
District set for Feb. 5 at the
Lexington Grange Hall is the
place to be if you want to
demonstrate an interest in an
irrigation district.
If there is interest and a
district is formed, here are
some of the things which could
be accomplished by an irriga
tion district:
1. Some preliminary plan
ning and engineering feasi
bility study could be done by
the State Engineer's Office if
it had a district to work with;
2. A group of landowners
flooding methods of applica
tion were secured in some
areas.
The physical properties of
soils information from this
study plus basic crop moisture
requirements for peak use
months in specific areas have
been combined into the pub
lication, "Oregon Irrigation
Guide," by U.S.D.A., Soil
Conservation Service. The
compilation of the guide was
started for those areas of the
state where the intake rates
and water holding capacities
have been determined through
field and laboratory tests. It is
prepared for specific soil
types or soil type groups for
which all characteristics are
similar or the same; for
example, crops to be grown,
soil depth, intake rates, water
holding capacity, land slope
and climate.
The guide gives criteria and
recommendations for use in
making irrigation water
management decisions. Tech
IMRRELL LEARN
organized into a district would
have more of a voice in getting
assistance from various a
gencies or in contracting for
private assistance;
3. A decision-making group
such as the irrigation board of
directors could make de
cisions about what needs to be
done or should be done to
determine if there is a
possibility of irrigating more
of the land in North Morrow
County;
4. There are a number of
different types of districts
which can be formed and
landowners have rights and
must reading
nical people assisting irriga
tion operators in making
management decisions should
be thoroughly familiar with all
basic criteria.
The Irrigation Design
Recommendation portion of
the guide will be completed by
segments. Each segment
covers a part of the state
where crop moisture require
ments as affected by climate
are most similar. The areas
now completed include Mor
row and Umatilla counties and
most other adjoining counties
in Central Oregon.
Not enough emphasis can be
put on the need to provide an
adequate irrigation system.
The system must then be
operated to apply the amount
of water in accordance with
the crop needs for the highest
moisture use month. Also, the
water must be applied at a
rate and volume resulting in a
minimum of losses due to
surface runoff and deep
drainage. It U this emphasis
RUPERT KENNEDY
privileges under each type to
protect their individual
rights;
5. An irrigation district can,
if engineering studies show it
to be feasible, promote and
finance an irrigation project;
6. An irrigation district, if
economically feasible, is one
way the small land owner can
obtain irrigation water;
7. The developments taking
place now are irrigating the
lower elevation lands and if
some organized effort is not
made soon it will continue to
be more expensive to irrigate
land further back from the
that is found in the "Oregon
Irrigation Guide" by way of
design recommendations
based on the field and labora
tory test data.
This publication is available
1 Morrow Soil & Water
I Conservation District
1 SECOND ANNUAL MEETING
& Tuesday, February 5, 1974
7:30 P.M.
Lexington Grange Hall
to
to
Program
1. Introduction of guests.
j 2. Business meeting.
I 3. Featured speakers:
Rupert Kennedy, "History of Ir-
rigation Development in North-
l ern Morrow County.
1 Quentin Bowman, State Water Resources
Board, "Timeliness of Irrigation
I Districts."
I
& Darrell Learn, State Engineer's Office, "A
8 Comprehensive Irrigation De-
velopment Plan for Northern
Morrow County."
Carl Huish, Bureau of Reclamation, South
Side Project.
4. Discussion on formation of Irrigation
District.
'$
Refreshments will be served
Columbia River;
8. An irrigation district can
obtain quite a bit of assistance
from state and federal a
gencies to determine feasi
bility before it commits any
funds which would indebt the
landowners under the district.
This is probably the strongest
reason for investigating the
possibility of forming an
irrigation district; and
9. It all boils down to this: if
the landowners want irriga
tion water, an irrigation
district is the tool they need to
get water.
to any person who could use
the information to adequately
plan and design irrigation
systems, especially sprinkler
type. The local Soil Conser
vation Service office has an
available supply.