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The Klamath
Basin Water
Crisis:
Water Supply
and Demand
A case study created by
MeghanMarie Fowler-Finn for the
course Seminar in Biodiversity
Conservation at Washington
University, St. Louis, Missouri
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Global Water Crisis
• 1.1 billion people lack safe drinking water.
• 66% of total withdrawal of fresh water is used for
irrigation, followed by industry, domestic
households, and evaporation.
• Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more
countries.
• Aral Sea, in Central Asia, has lost half its
superficies, or 2/3 of its volume, leaving 36,000km2
of land covered by salt.
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Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges
Issues:
• Cropland rotation program
• 80% of original wetlands lost
• Water quality degraded; quantity
decreased during drought
• 80% of Pacific Flyway’s waterfowl
supported by wetlands
• Logging permitted to improve
forest health by thinning
Seasonal Migrations:
Fall: waterfowl, peaks can reach 1
million birds
Winter: bald eagles, largest
concentration in contiguous U.S.
Spring: waterfowl return, songbirds,
shorebirds, one of the few
remaining American white pelican
breeding colonies
Summer: waterfowl and marsh birds
Significant Species:
American bald eagle *
Yellow rail
Lost River sucker *
Great gray owl
Shortnose sucker *
Sandhill crane
Golden eagle
Osprey
American white pelican
Rocky Mountain elk
White Faced Ibis
Spotted frog
Peregrine falcon
Wood duck
Western & eared grebes
Mule deer
Wocus-yellow pond lily
Pronghorn antelope
Double-crested cormorant
Tri-colored blackbird
Black tern
Great blue heron
Northern goshawk
Great egret, snowy egret
Sage grouse
Snow, Ross’, white-fronted, & Canada geese
Pintail, mallard, gadwall, canvasback, redhead
* Indicates endangered species
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Upper Klamath Lake Marsh Drainage
1880s to the 1970s
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The Worth and Cost of Agriculture
• Potatoes, alfalfa, onions, sugar beets, barley, etc.
• Losses of farm income worth $73-$92 million in 2001, when the
federal government shut off irrigation because of a severe drought in
2000-2001.
• Emergency payments by federal government covered $46 million of
above losses.
• 13% of jobs in this region are related to agriculture.
• Irrigation from the Klamath River Basin accounts for half of the
agricultural production in this area.
• Agricultural runoff, especially in the fostering of algal blooms and
depleted oxygen levels, is blamed for massive fish kills.
• Cattle grazing on river basin land area depends on irrigation and
can cause eutrophication and contamination through cow feces.
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Loss of Fish
• In 2002, when irrigation was allowed to resume, 3060 thousand fish died.
• Flavobacterium columnare found on dead suckers.
• Disease caused by increased water temperatures?
• Salmon cannot swim up river and spawn because
dams block the way.
• Agriculture runoff pollutes the water and causes
excessive algae blooms.
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Temperature Changes
Below the Iron Gate Dam on the Klamath River it
was found that:
• “cumulative exposures to stressful temperatures have
been increasing in both number and duration”
• “length of annual period of potentially stressful
temperatures has been increasing”
• “average length of river with suitable temperatures has
been decreasing”
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Native Americans
• Return of C'waam Ceremony celebrates fish runs in
March, which traditionally coincided with dwindling winter
supplies of other food sources.
• The Bureau of Reclamation signed a treaty in 1864 with
the Klamath Native Americans that ensures the provision
of Coho salmon and steelhead trout, two fish valuable to
their traditions.
• 1974, Federal Courts ruled that the Klamath retained
Treaty Rights to hunt, fish, and gather in the Klamath
Basin and should be consulted in land management
decisions.
• The Klamath are suing PacifiCorp for the dams that
block the salmon run.
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PacifiCorp's Side of the Story
• Hydroelectric power is a clean way to fuel the area and
removal of dams may increase pollution by increasing
other means to generate power
• In 2008 PacifiCorp came to an agreement in court as to
their future involvement on the Klamath River. Several
lower dams will be removed. However removal has not
commenced because PacifiCorps refuses to do anything
without guarantees from the government waiving
responsibility from problems that may arise due to dam
removal. See the following website for more information.
http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/Poweranddamstoc/nodams/toc.htm
• Students can be asked to discuss whether fish ladders are
worth considering if they cost more than the dams.
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The Fish Industry
• An entire fish industry is based on endangered Coho
salmon and other fish that inhabit the Klamath River.
• Hatchery fish constitute a large proportion of fish in
Klamath River, but might endanger wild fish.
• Fish spawn in Klamath Lake, but the majority are
prevented from returning there by multiple dams.
• Thousands of jobs depend on the harvesting of salmon
and other fish.
• Hatchery fish are considered in numbers for wild species
endangered status.
• Should Coho salmon still be considered endangered if
hatchery fish push numbers past endangered status?
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2006 Klamath Project Operations Plan
• Abide by the NOAA Fisheries 2002 Biological Opinion
and require water in the Klamath River and Upper Lake
to be at adequate levels.
• Reduce water from irrigators and National Wildlife
Refuges when necessary in equally proportionate
amounts according to area.
• Draw from outside water when needed, although outside
sources not yet determined.
• Water in 2005 was plentiful enough for the Project, the
Refuges, and the fish, but will it be plentiful enough for
the long term?
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Credits
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Slide 1: Licensed photo ©iStockPhoto/Mike Norton.
Slide 3: World Water Council. http://www.worldwatercouncil.org. Water GAP 2.0 December 1999. Used with permission.
Slide 4: Map adapted from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources
Conservation Service. http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/klamath/
Slide 6: “Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loading from Drained Wetlands Adjacent to Upper
Klamath and Agency Lakes, Oregon,” 1997, Daniel T. Snyder and Jennifer L. Morace,
U.S. Geological survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 97–4059.
Slide 7: US Geological Survey. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/uv?11516530
Slide 8: Photograph by Daniel T Snyder, U.S. Geological Survey.
http://or.water.usgs.gov/pubs/Html/WSP2425/index.html
Slide 10: Adams, Richard M. & Cho, Seong Hoon. "Agriculture and Endangered
Species: An analysis of Trade-Offs in the Klamath Basin, Oregon." Water Resources
Research. 34.10 (1998): 2741-2749. “Permission is granted ... to use figures, tables,
and short quotes from the journal for republication in scientific books and journals.”
(http://www.agu.org/pubs/copyright.html)
Slide 11: “Photos taken on the Trinity River September 25. Some 10,500 salmon and
steelhead were counted during overflight from Mill Creek on the Trinity River
downstream to the Klamath boat ramp near Highway 101. Photo credit: Northcoast
Environmental Center.”
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/002/in_midst_of_salmon_kill_fishermen_dema
nd_a_fair_share_of_the_water_and_challenge_long_term_plan_for_the_klamath_ba
sin.html#photos
Slide 16: Map from NOAA Fisheries.
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