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Harney County review of OWRD rulemaking: RAC proposes multi-criteria curtailment plan for groundwater
Summary
County representatives described recent Rangeland Advisory Committee (RAC) discussions and a proposed OWRD rulemaking framework that would use static water levels plus other indicators to trigger curtailment in subareas; commissioners asked for legal review and clearer metrics before endorsing rules.
Harney County Court received an update on a rulemaking process led by the Oregon Water Resources Department and the local Rangeland Advisory Committee (RAC) to manage critical groundwater areas. RAC members and county representatives discussed a proposed adaptive-management approach that uses static water-level envelopes as a principal metric and additional criteria — dry domestic well indicators, stream and spring flows, and evapotranspiration measures — that could also trigger curtailment steps in defined subareas.
Meeting participants expressed concern about the addition of multiple, partly overlapping criteria and asked for clearer justification and technical bases for proposed numeric triggers (for example, references to streamflow percentages tied to a selected baseline year). Commissioners asked county legal counsel to review draft rule language and recommended seeking adaptive triggers that allow graduated responses and periodic adjustment rather than one-time, large cuts that could damage local economies.
Timeline and next steps discussed in the meeting include a virtual rule-language discussion and a full rulemaking hearing scheduled in March; county representatives plan to provide formal comments after legal review.
Why this matters
The proposed approach would be the first in Oregon to combine static water-level envelopes with multiple additional criteria for curtailment in a critical groundwater area. Curtailment mechanisms directly affect water rights and agricultural operations; local officials emphasized the need for precision in rule language and contingency processes to reduce unintended economic impacts.
Court direction
County representatives were directed to coordinate legal review of the draft rule language and to prepare comments for the March rulemaking hearing. The court requested ongoing updates to the commissioners and that technical assumptions be better documented for the public record.
