Oregon
Water
Resources
Congress
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Testimony before the House Energy and Environment Committee House Bill 2294 February 12, 2007
Madame Chair and members of the Committee, I am Anita Winkler, the Executive Director of the Oregon Water Resources Congress.
The Oregon Water Resources Congress is a voluntary, state-wide trade association of primarily local governments specifically organized to deliver irrigation water. Our members include irrigation districts, water control districts, and improvement districts, as well as individual farming operations and businesses that irrigate, affiliated companies, and other associations. Close to half of all water rights held throughout Oregon are delivered by districts.
I am testifying today in support of HB 2294. We appreciate the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s proposal to expand its fish screen cost share program to larger diversions. As you might surmise, our members have large diversions since they deliver water to thousands of acres.
A fish screen for a district’s diversion costs anywhere from $150,000 to $2,000,000 with the screen for the Klamath project costing over $15 million dollars. The districts assemble put together an array of funding sources from the federal government, the State of Oregon, the private sector, and district funds. The fish screen cost share program will be one more funding source the districts have for this important tool to protect fish and keep them from swimming into the canals and ditches.
OWRC and our members have been active in fish screening for many years even working on federal legislation for partial funding of fish screens and fish passages at irrigation diversions. That program, known as the Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act of 2005 (FRIMA) requires a non-federal match. This program can provide part of that match.
The proposed change to increase the goal for fish screens and adding the water flow rate as an option to just a number of fish screens along with the increase project size and increased cost share cap will enable districts to participate in this program as noted in the Department’s testimony. Our member districts want to be part of the effort to screen diversions to protect fish. We have been actively screening diversions as funds are available but given the costs of screening, our members will benefit by being able to participate and use this funding to match federal and private sources.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I’ll be happy to answer questions.
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