Feds to release more water for Klamath farmers

Mercury News

July 2, 2010

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.—More water is being released for drought-parched farms in the Klamath Basin's federal irrigation project.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement Friday that the extra 35,000 acre feet of water is good news, but still amounts to only half of normal for the Klamath Reclamation Project.

The extra water is the result of a cool spring and lower demand for irrigation in the watershed above the project's main reservoir.

A combination of drought and Endangered Species Act demands for protected salmon and sucker fish had forced steep cutbacks in the project serving more than 1,000 farms.

The extra water is still not enough to flood marshes on federal wildlife refuges that also depend on the project.