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Water conservation program challenged
By Jim Cornelius

Even with more water in Squaw Creek, not everyone is convinced that piping the Cloverdale Irrigation Ditch was the right thing to do.

Squaw Creek Irrigation District (SCID) manager Marc Thalacker reports that the piping is saving from four to six cubic feet per second (1,796 to 2,694 gallons per minute) of water that used to seep through the bottom of the ditch.

Three cubic feet per second (1,337 gallons per minute) are left to flow in Squaw Creek (see "Piping ditch has saved Squaw Creek water," The Nugget, July 10).

Matt Cyrus believes that the district has no right to do that.

"They're mis-delivering the water in violation of state statutes," Cyrus said. "They are in violation of state statutes if they deliver that water downstream instead of to other users who have a right to it."

SCID has applied for an allocation and use of conserved water permit to return the 3 cfs to the creek. The Cyruses have announced their intent to contest that permit.

Until that permit and its attached water right is nailed down, SCID is vulnerable to legal action.

Thalacker said that SCID is putting the 3 cfs in the creek to honor contractual agreements with Oregon Water Trust (OWT) and the Deschutes Resources Conservancy (DRC), which backed the piping project with grant funds and administrative help.

The district can safely do that as long as there is enough water in the creek for everybody, according to Deschutes County Watermaster Kyle Gorman.

"At this point, I don't know anyone who is not getting the water they're supposed to and there's about 20 cfs in the creek," Gorman said.

Once the stream starts getting dry and delivering to all the irrigators with water rights becomes more difficult, SCID's position will be less secure.

"Probably, to avoid conflict, we would divert that water," Thalacker told The Nugget. "Right now, we don't need to."

Thalacker does not believe that taking the 3 cfs back out of the creek temporarily will cause problems with OWT or DRC.

"They've been very understanding," he said. "Unlike the Cyruses, they're not interested in litigation."

The Cyrus family has been involved in a series of legal actions with SCID. Last spring the Cyruses won a decision that Squaw Creek Irrigation District "converted" or took water from the Keith Cyrus family when SCID refused to deliver Cyrus water in a fee dispute in 1999.

SCID's conserved water permit "has just reached the top of the pile," according to Doug Parrow of the Oregon Water Resources Department.

"We're just getting to the point where we are getting ready to take public comment," Parrow said.

Parrow said a series of public hearings will be conducted and he anticipates the deadline for public comment on the application will be August 30.

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