Much Improved Water Supply for Owyhee Farms
ONTARIO, Ore. (AP) — Farms that rely on water from the Owyhee Reservoir will be getting a larger allotment this year.
The Capital Press reports that the Owyhee Irrigation District board of directors has set the 2016 allotment at 3 acre-feet for now, and the amount is expected to increase as water from the snowpack flows into the reservoir. Even if stays at 3 acre-feet, that's a big increase over the past two years.
Because of drought, irrigators only got 1.7 acre-feet last year and 1.6 acre-feet in 2014. The reservoir provides irrigation water for 1,800 farms and 118,000 acres in Malheur County in Eastern Oregon and around Homedale and Marsing in southwestern Idaho.