KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Klamath Basin water has always been about the numbers. And this year, those numbers are finally looking up.
At the annual Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) meeting the evening of Tuesday, April 1, third-generation farmer and KWUA President Scott Seus shared the news local water users have been hoping for since 2019. “The Bureau of Reclamation sent us a letter that said we would have a supply adequate enough to satisfy all ‘A’ and ‘B’ contractors,” Seus said. “B” contractors in the Klamath Project have not been allocated any water since 2019, with most “A” contractors receiving reduced water allocations for farming during that same period.
“As of this morning (April 1), we stood at 172% of normal snowpack,” Seus said Monday evening. The snowpack is uniform throughout the watershed, Seus said, unlike previous years where some regions remained sparse. “I’ve woken up to snow more times in 2025 than I have in the last three years combined and the 15 years before that,” Seus said.
Upper Klamath Lake, the primary source for water diversions to Klamath Project water users, is also nearly full for the first time in seven years, reaching 96% capacity as of last month. KWUA’s outgoing Executive Director Paul Simmons said that the surface area of Upper Klamath Lake has increased by 14,000 acres. “Crater Lake’s surface area is 13,000,” Simmons said. Inflows into Upper Klamath Lake are currently exceeding 6,000 cubic feet per second. Water levels are so high this spring that Seus said farmers “can’t get rid of water fast enough.”
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