New Oregon Law Stores Water For Dry Days Of Summer
Hermiston, OR March 5, 2008 3:18 p.m.
Oregon took the first step Wednesday toward a long-term plan to share Columbia River water among farmers, salmon and cities.
Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the Agriculture and Community Water Act into law in front of an audience in Hermiston.
Ted Kulongoski: "Without a plan to ensure water use in the summer, this region and the people who live here will be deprived of the very resource that sustains their work, way of life, and the region’s economy."
The water rights of some farmers in the Umatilla basin have been cut off or capped because of drought and development in the area.
The new law will pay for a feasibility study to draw water from the Columbia River during the winter, and allow it to percolate into an underground aquifer for summer use.
Washington’s Columbia River Water management plan calls for drilling wells to explore whether the region’s subterranean basalt formations can work as natural storage tanks.
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