By Ron Brown
June 14, 2011
MERRILL, Ore. -- For the first time in at least two years Klamath Lake is full of water and Basin farmers should have plenty of water for crops.
That's quite a contrast to last year when water was rationed and some growers moved their crops to more water-secure areas.
Water boils from an irrigation canal near Merrill where last year there was very little. Irrigation sprinklers are watering freshly planted grain and potato crops with hopes that this year will make up for last year's water shortages.
Last year many growers sought out secure water supplies outside the Klamath Project, but Greg Addington with the Klamath Basin Water Users Association says most of those farmers are back now.
Merrill farmer Jim Carlton says, "If we get a good summer of warm temperatures and you know it lasts, we don't get a lot of cool weather this summer they should be able to make up. Probably just let them go a few days longer in the fall before we start killing and harvesting, and try to make up some of that time on the potatoes."
Carlton says last year he was able to water much of his land near Merrill because he had drilled a 6,000-gallon-a-minute well following the 2001 water shutoff.
