This summer Central Oregon LandWatch has posted a series of articles on water challenges in Central Oregon. These articles provide a reasonable overview of many local water issues and could be valuable to people who want to make an initial dive into “water world”. The final installment, “One Key Move Solves Many Water Challenges“, was recently released. You should take the time to read it but the quick summary is that many local water problems could be solved by reallocating unneeded water from Central Oregon Irrigation District to North Unit Irrigation District, the Upper and Middle Deschutes, and the Crooked River. Unfortunately, I found this final installment disappointing.

I have been a supporter of COLW for a very long time and hate to be critical but many have been saying that water needs to be reallocated for years (almost 20 years in my case). There really is no debate about that. The hard work is doing it. I have outlined a variety of potential methods in this blog and published articles. The Deschutes River Conservancy is attempting to implement a Water Bank which will not address the core issue of reallocation but may deliver some water to junior rights holders. (Note that canal piping will not reallocate water to NUID or the Middle Deschutes.)

COLW has an admirable track record in land use advocacy. They are willing to lead the charge and use legal tools to preserve land and manage growth. I hope that same culture bleeds into water policy in the future. Yes, many farmers in Central Oregon get far more water than they need for crop production. Heck, many “farmers” don’t grow crops or raise livestock at all, they simply use water to keep their water rights. Water needs to be reallocated, we all know that. How exactly do we do this? What’s COLW’s proposal? What’s the implementation plan?