Klamath stakeholders propose using remaining domestic well grant to expand groundwater monitoring and pilot managed aquifer recharge

Dave Hensley, representing the Klamath Water Users Association, told the Klamath County Board of Commissioners during a work session Oct. 1 that a plan to install groundwater monitoring wells and fold managed aquifer recharge work into local training programs could use existing grant funds and provide data to guide surface-water and groundwater management.

Hensley said the state awarded Klamath County a $9,000,000 domestic well grant after more than 400 domestic wells went dry in 2021, and that about $4,000,000 of that award remained. "We already have the money to do it. So I'm not here today to talk to you or ask you for money," Hensley said, describing a concept to employ Klamath Community College's Well Driller Apprenticeship program to drill monitoring wells through the Klamath Project area and to support pilot managed aquifer recharge (MAR) activities.

At the meeting, Ivan Gall, director for the Oregon Water Resources Department(OWRD) in Salem, said the agency's groundwater scientists "depend heavily on groundwater level data" and that coverage of shallower and intermediate-depth wells is "inadequate," limiting understanding of how canal leakage or land-application recharge affects the system. Jeremy Morris, Klamath County public works and planning director, added: "When surface water drops, later in the year and if we don't have an adequate supply of surface water, the ground water actually gives back to surface water."

Hensley outlined practical steps: use the KCC apprenticeship for well construction, add monitoring sites from Klamath through Merrill and Millen across the Klamath Project, fold OWRD into a task force, and link monitoring to MAR pilot designs so the county could measure recharge responses in wet and dry cycles. He noted an existing funding and project pipeline: Brown and Caldwell began a feasibility study on MAR during his prior term as a commissioner, Jacobs Engineering has taken over some work, and the Klamath Irrigation District (KID) committed funds for a grant application to the Bureau of Reclamation. Morris said there is a roughly $500,000 request against the remaining $4,000,000 balance and that KID committed about $15,000 toward a grant application.

Commissioners in the session expressed support for further study. One commissioner (not identified on the record) said they would "volunteer to be the commissioner liaison to the project." Hensley asked for a commissioner to join a work group to continue feasibility work, refine costs and project scope, and return to the board with a formal proposal.

The discussion produced no formal vote or binding direction at the Oct. 1 work session; commissioners agreed to continue exploring the concept and to include county staff and OWRD in follow-up work.

Background: Hensley said agriculture in the basin is a major local economic driver; he cited a figure of "$367,000,000" for agricultural economic impact in the area and warned of long-term community effects if irrigation and groundwater resources are mismanaged. He also referenced prior county support for KCC's apprenticeship program, saying the county previously provided "half a million dollars" to the college for that effort.

Next steps Hensley requested: formation of a multi-stakeholder work group including a commissioner liaison, KCC, OWRD and irrigation districts; refined cost estimates and project design; and a future return to the board with a specific funding request if needed.