A federal drought relief program left southern Oregon parched
This April, Micah Goettl, an emergency coordinator for the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), began to hear reports of residential wells failing in Klamath County.
At first, this wasn’t a complete surprise. The region was experiencing extreme drought. Many farmers in the area were tapping into groundwater reserves after their preferred water sources, Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River, had been cordoned off to protect endangered species. Wells have occasionally gone dry in previous years, Goettl said. It happens every now and then, when groundwater falls to a level lower than pumps can reach.
Quickly, however, it became apparent that this year’s water woes were more severe than usual, and widespread: As of last Friday, more than 280 homes in Klamath County have seen their wells go dry. For the first time ever this summer, the state was asked to step in and coordinate an emergency response.
Even finding a temporary solution was an uphill battle: Early on, ODHS found itself competing with its counterpart agencies in California — also facing waves of domestic well failures this year — to buy water tanks, which can be hooked up to homes as a backup water source. Eventually, an Oregon-based manufacturer set up a dedicated assembly line to produce tanks for residents waiting to resume their lives. In the months since, private water suppliers have been making regular deliveries to Klamath County to keep them full.
Read more: https://www.hcn.org/articles/drought-a-federal-drought-relief-program-left-southern-oregon-parched
(High Country News)
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