News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Kyle Gorman, Deschutes Basin Watermaster, told an irrigation seminar at the Central Electric Cooperative in Redmond last week that the snow and rainfall in the Deschutes drainage is at 140 percent of normal and, barring any abnormal warming and drying, there should be no shortages of water through the summer months.
Snow, followed by heavy rains, sent Squaw Creek roaring above its banks, its flow reaching 1,000 cubic feet per second at one point, Gorman said. He called it a "10-year event." There also has been intermittent flooding of Trout Creek in the area of Trapper's Point.
McNulty views the "saturated" ground as a potential boon for irrigators in his district. He said that because the ground is wet, it will not soak up water from melting snow this spring, allowing most of it to pass on down to users below.
He cautioned, however, that rapid warming early in the season could cause the melt to occur too fast and bring much of the water down before it is needed. That could create a shortage later. He said the district has no reservoirs to impound water from an early melt.
Forecasts published by Gorman's office predict the snowpack will be at least 100 percent and as high as 120 percent of average for the year.
"I've been here five years and this is the best season of any of those years," Gorman said.
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