Water Supply
09-10-24: We will not be piping during the 2024/2025 maintenance season. Stock runs will be dependent on weather and Tumalo Creek flows.
08-19-24: The final shut off date for the 2024 Irrigation Season has been set. The "DITCH" rotation will be shut off the morning of Monday, September 16th. The "PIPED" rotation will be shut off the morning of Monday, September 23rd.
08-12-24: Operational water in open ditches during the weekend is only to allow the District to wet up the entire length of the ditches to increase speed of delivery on Monday. People that are adding rocks, boards, hay bales, and any other item’s to the District infrastructure and checking up the water in the ditches for their own benefit to irrigate. This is not only stealing water in direct violation of the District water theft policy, but you are taking from your neighbor’s ability to get water faster on their crops on Monday and to the tail ends of the ditches. It is with great disappointment that we have seen multiple cases of patrons taking water from their neighbors over this past weekend and today . There are patron’s that are growing crops that are now waiting for water due to the reckless actions of a few patrons. Patrons need to be responsible and contain their actions. This water is a finite resource that we are trying to use to the benefit of all water users, not the select few that want to cheat the system.
07-24-24: Live flows on Tumalo Creek and Deschutes River have dropped to levels that we are unable to continue with 70% delivery to our Patrons. Expect low and fluctuating flows until July 29th.
We will start a week ON/week OFF rotation starting this Monday, the 29th. We expect to be able to extend the irrigation season into at least the 3rd week of September with this change.
Rotation this year will not be a NORTHSIDE/SOUTHSIDE rotation. Instead, we will be doing a PIPED or DITCH rotation. With a couple of small exceptions that we will communicate to applicable Patrons.
Monday at 7 a.m., the PIPED deliveries will be shut OFF.
If you would like to volunteer to shut down for the season, please let the office know so we can use that water for other Patrons.
07-16-24: At the July 9th board meeting it was decided that we will continue to deliver 70% without rotation until our next board meeting on August 13th. At that time, we will discuss rotation and shut off date.
06-11-24: Tumalo Creek is starting to drop. In preparation of a decrease in flows, field staff will begin adjusting headgates & valves and setting everyone back to 70%. Expections for rotation are explained below in the Crescent Lake Update below.
06-11-24: Crescent Lake Update - We are not gaining as much as we had hoped. What does this mean for the remainder of our season? We will have to do a rotation at some point to get us to the end.
Water started on April 15th. Please call the office at (541) 382-3053 in advance to be put on the list if you want water! We do not automatically open everyone’s gates and valves.
If you do not already know where our water supply comes from, you can read a brief overview here.
To view Crescent Lake's level, click here. This data is updated daily and shows current data about the Deschutes River Basin Storage and Discharge.
To view Tumalo Creek's daily flow, click here.
The OSU Extension Service included an article in their most recent newsletter on page 4 about Drought Year Management. If you are interested in reading this article you can view the newsletter here.
The Oregon Water Resources Department maintains a drought website that provides the status of current water conditions and state drought declarations, as well as information on what you can do to use water wisely. Visit their drought page here.
View Current Hydromet readings for the Deschutes Basin here.