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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1954)
f WEDNESDAY, APrtiL 21. '' Jjf 11511 (Continued from page 10) mission has ordered that a license be issued to the California Oregon -rower '-cuipany tor its proposed nig jjeno development, but con tingent upon a renewal or exten. sran of the contract between Copco and the Department of the Interior V covering storage in Upper Klam S ath Lake for the 50 year period of j me license, on substantially the H same terms as the present agree- fment which still has 13 years to run. The Secretary of the Interior I has assured us that he will not , enter into a new contract before f fully Investigating all of the pertl- nent matters. I think he will take i no action prior to the comnrehen- sive report on the Upper Klamath i Basin now being prepared by the ? . f i .... "Hitou vi xwjciiiai-iuii uuu Que w be completed about June of this year unless there is a prior agree ment reached between Copco .and the Bureau which is satisfactory lo local irrigation interests. The statement has been frequent ly made and denied that there is Insufficient" unappropriated water for the new Copco project at Big Bend., i.-thlnk .the. jjeoB'e, of,, the jsasia are inierestea in me lacis as to Just how much water is avail able and therefore propose to give you the record. Stream flow measurements are available for nearly 50 years. 1905- 1953, showing the flow at Keno or Spencer Bridge. Before presenting figures It will fee well to describe the units of water volume and flow. The quan tity of water stored, or the volume of water flowing In a stream In a certain period, is expressed In acre feet. An acre-foot of water is enough to cover one acre to a depth of one foot and is equal to j 43,560 cubic feet. The storage ca pacity of Uppper Klamath Lake las now regulated Is about 480,000 acre-feet which means that It holds A enough to cover 480,000 acres to a U depth of one foot or 80,000 acres Sto a depth of six feet. k Rate of flow Is expressed In cubic 3 feet per second, usually stated, 'Jj "second-feet." A second-foot Is a cubic foot of water flowing past a given point each second. One I second-foot flowing 24 hours will S discharge roughly two acre-feet of water. During the 20-year period, 1933- 1952 the flow at Keno has aver aged 991,000 acre-feet per year. It ranged between a low of 515,000 acre-feet in the water year 1932- 33 and a high of 1,919,000 acre-feet In the water year 1951-52. The low- ,rit flow of record was 395,000 In 1930-31. Not all of this water Is available for power development because a certain amount, as yet .not determined officially, must be allowed to flow at all times to protect the fish life in the stream. .Also, the storsge capacity in Upper IN STOCK FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY! FARM FUEL TANKS 500 GALLON CAPACITY Mounted en rii, irurd Meet stand with angle racks to held rwe barrels located at proper height for easy liquid withdrawal. Task Is built of prim quality 14 tougt steal, finithid in rod hakad a enamel, faitad under air pressure fa make sura if is Icak-frae. Beautiful factory finished. Complttt with laddar mounted an sida at fill and discharge and. Fittings include 1" self-closing nonle, lack lever shut off volra, hose, J" combination locking and renting fill cap. Total prica for complete unit HEAT0N AND SUPPLY 428 Spring St., Klamath Fall 1954 Klamath Lake is Insufficient to ful ly control the flow. In most years the lake spills considerable water at rates higher than can be used at the existing Copco plants or could be used by the proposed new pro ject at the Big Bend. Such excess water is wasted down the river to the sea. The project proposed by Copco is designed to be able to utilize 2500 second-feet of water and Cop co' s application to the Hydroelec tric Commission of Oregon is for that amount. Therein lies a source of misunderstanding by the irriga tion interests, s They fear that if copco gets a right to that quantity of water there will be insufficient water left for irrigation; Copco has explained that it will use only a uniform flow of 1250 second-feet which will be . stored for twelve hours per day and then released at the rate of 2500 second-feet for the remaining twelve hours. We must understand that such use will be flexible, depending oh the system demands for electricity. For exam pie, if there is 2500 second-feet In the river and if the system requires the energy, .surely the plant would operate .24 , hours a day. Again, if there is less than 1250 second-feet available, storage could be for more than 12 hours and use for less than 12 hours. Copco Is con vinced and apparently the Federal Power Commission believes that there Is sufficient water. But now comes the question, what will be the water situation if and when the irrigated area in the upper basin has been expand ed from the present 350,000 acres to some 700,000? If that time comes, and irrigation maintains a preferential use of water, the flow at Keno will be reduced by some 200,000 to' 300,000 acre-feet annual ly. That would mean in a dry year such as 1931, and unless there were storage water held over from pre vious years, there would be prac tically no water available for pow er development. This brings up the first ef. the two basic concepts that must be either supported or over-ruled In making the decision on whether or not Copco should obtain the water right for this new plant. The concept that consumptive use of water for irrigation Is a higher and preferred use as compared with use for power development is strongly supported by reclamation interests in the stmi-arld west where agriculture is dependent on irrigation. The regional planning and conservation authorities and GET OUR RATES ... for land leveling, chis eling and sub-soiling. DREW'S HEREFORD RANCH Old Midland Road Ph. 3924 $147.50 STEEL Ph. 2-3427 high officials of the State of Ore gon generally support this view. Clearly, if that concept is to be supported here, Copco would have to accept a water right on condi tion that It could claim only such water as will not be needed lor irrigation, present or future. The other major- issue involved Is whether the potential power be tween Keno and the state line should j.oe developed by a private utility corporation in a series of plants including the Big Bend No. 2 project, or whether the avail able power should be developed by federal agency in conjunction with the irrigation of a portion of Butte Valley. The Bureau's project would divert water from the Klam ath River above Keno, carry it in a canal to a point south of Indian Tom Lake, pump it 170 feet In ele vation to'Butte Valley near Dorris. carry It in a canal across Butte Volley to Meiss Lake, and thence by means of a tunnel and pen stock return the water through a power plant to - Klamath River above the existing power plants at Copco. Water for irriga tion of Butte Valley would be tak en from the canal in the valley and drainage water would be picked up and carried out of the valley through the power tunnel. This project would utilize the total fall of the river between Keno ana I Copco Lake but would reduce the low water flow down the channel through Oregon to that necessary for fish life. It would have the dis advantage that it could not util.ze the flows at higncr stages of the river, because it would not be eco nomical to build the conduits and pumping plant with capacity to handle these large flows. Its feas ibility would depend largely upon additional storage in Upper Klam ath Lake or at other possible stor age sites. The issue before us now Is wheth er or not the Department of the Interior and Copco should enter into a new agreement providing that for the next 50 years Copco may regulate Upper Klamath Lake in much the same manner as at present, storing and releasing wa ter to best serve Its own interests. 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Copco has stated that It cannot proceed to construct the Big Bend project un less the new contract is entered into and, in fact, the order of the Federal Power Commission dated January 28. 1954, granting the li cense for the project, is condition al upon consummation of the new agreement. " . What do the people of Klamath Basin stand to lose or gain by this proposed new agreement? They lose an irrigation development in Butte Valley which although not In Oregon in in the trade area of Klamath Falls and would contribute In some measure to the economy of the County. The Bureau's scheme has the advantage of mul tiple use, that is, some of the wa- So smooth it leaves you breathless mirnoff rest name VODKA O proof Midr from O0 grain neutral tpinu. Sec. Piwr Smirnoff Fit. Inc.. Hartford. Conn. til ii KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON ter diverted to Butte Vallev would be used for Irrigation and the drain. age water irom Irrigated lands would be used to develop power to help defray the cost ol pumping for Irrigation. In addition, the mul tiple purpose scheme would provide (or drainage front Butte Valley of surplus waters which now accumu late iu Meiss Lake and periodically flood and damage farm lands bor dering the lake. Such drainaae wa- ten would be put to cood use through the power plant. The Bu reau scneme would develop the full head (or fall) between Keno and Copco Lake, nearly 1500 feet, while the Copco Big Bend No. 3 project would develop only 288 feet of tills head at what seems to be the reach of th stree&t offering the most economical possibilities. If a new contract is entered Into, Klamath Basin gains immediately an $8,000,000 construction project which will provide work and busi ness for local markets during the two-year construction period and a permanent, .lax-paying Industry, It gains a new block of power for the Basin, probably several years ear lier than It would be provided un dena Federal project through Butte Valley. Granting of water rlehts for the Big Bend No. 2 project would throw a block in the way of any person or agency who contemplates out-of-basin diversion for power de velopment in California. Presumably, if Copco obtains the Decenary wafer rights and builds Big Band No. 2, It will eventually deve'.op the other sites which in clude Keno (head 291 feet), Big Bend No. 1 (head 165 feci), Bis Bend No. 3 (head 130 feet), Salt Caves (head 425 fnct) and Warm Springs (head ISO feet). All the above sites except Warm Springs are in Oregon and the total fall in Oregon available for power de velopment is about 1310 feet. If the Copco development of Big Bend No. 2 is permitted, it very probably means that diversion of Klamath River Water by pumping to Butte Valley will be out of the question for the next 60 years. The Copco project would not bar the WiyTulitokg Growers IW SHEU NHj SERVICE is am asms 3 SHELL NH3 SERVi', Puts 81 Nitrogen fertilizer directly in the root tone with unmatched precision and experience Provide lowest-cost nitrogen ' lerauzer per pound of nitrogen applied to the soil . Increases grain yields. ..gets crops off to a fast, healthy start,, stays with them throughout -the growing season Saves hauling, handling and application costs . , . reduces farm overhead' for prompt service; phono WALKER BROS. MERRIll 4261 or 4271 graphic atamplfl of the heavy damage Mmatodca cauae in many areas. Not tha contrast to the firm, eaoootn akin of a aound potato. & era erf pre ?A$ , V 13 7 KUUCriflD IT DAmAwRC ROOTS - X PROMOTE I0T, MOID, B-P tILLS . WALKER BROTHERS . Merrill, Orckit PHONI 42il r 4271 Irrigation development, when de mand therefor arises, of some 300, 000 acres of arable lands in the Klamath Basin in Oregon, The' license granted by the Fed eral Power Commission gives Cop co the right to construct the pro ject on Government lands and in the channel of a navigable stream. Water rights, whatever they may be, must come Irom the Slate of Oregon through the Hydroelectric Commission. It Is believed that if and when a license for the project Is Issued by the Hydro-electric Commission of Oregon, it will con tain a provision that the right to use of water for power develop ment is inierlor to future develop riations for irrigation in the Basin. 8uppose we look at the question with the long time viewpoint of the over-all benefit to the people, and suppose we decide that irriga tion is the highest ultimate use of the water and power must give way when the water" is needed for irrigation. Can Copco recognise that concept and still proceed with the construction of its Big Bend pro ject? The answer can not 6e stat ed by anyone except Copco's oper ating people because they are the ones who know how the power to be generated would fit into their energy requirements and what it will be north to them. -They alone must decide whether it would be an economical development o r whether it would be possible to de velop or purchase the same amount of energy elsewhere at a lesser cost. If diversion out of the upper ba sin above Keno is not permitted. future irrigation and industrial uses will not greatly deplete the total water supply, wjth reoiamatlon and irrigation of all the arable lands above Upper Klamath Basin. principally in the Williamson and Sprague River drainages, the total inflow to the lake may be reduced ten to fifteen per cent In average years. Irrigation of additional lands adjacent to the existing Klamath Projec will require something like 130,000 acre-feet. Consumptive uses of water for potential industries mi m fcHl t 0 ;.jr tin ways AM) W6M ST0RA6I L0SS1 rJEf.lATOPES will require negligible quantities. The net result of all depletions dur ing Uie next fifty years may be on the order ' of 300,000 acre-feet annually, reducing the average an nual flow at Keno to about 7O0.VU0 acre-feet. That quantity is equiva lent to a uniform flow of (70 cubic feet per second. Assuming an allowance of 100 cu bic feet per second to be left in the river channel for fish, an aver age flow of 870 cubic feet per sec ond would be available for the pow er project. That figure is 70 per cent of Copco's figure of 1250 second-feet as the water requirement for the project. , The generating potential of the Big Bend project, and also the Cop co plants in California would be greatly increased if there were suf ficient storage capacity to com- I! AM II LOANS Long Term Low Rata SlUUrt. 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