Bend Bulletin Editorial: Allow a Deschutes Basin water bank
It looks like the Legislature may grant permission for a water bank to be set up in Deschutes Basin. But there has been some pushback.
A water bank would help get water in the basin where it should go, providing a bit of flexibility within the rigidity of Oregon water law. Irrigators and water users could make a deposit of water in the bank. That would make it available for others to withdraw and use.
It would likely be most helpful for North Unit Irrigation District, located near Madras. Most of the world’s supply of carrot seed is produced there. But because that irrigation district has a junior water right among the other irrigation districts in the basin, it can have trouble getting enough water to its farmers.
The water bank would be voluntary. Nobody would be forced to do anything.
The exchanges would be temporary, though they could become more permanent.
The Deschutes River Conservancy would manage the water bank under the watchful eye of the Oregon Water Resources Department.
It’s a pilot program and is set under the bill, House Bill 3806, to expire in 2034. The hope is, though, that it will be successful and spread into other communities. “In Deschutes County we have been so collaborative on water for such a long time,” state Rep. Emerson Levy, D-Bend, said last week. “My only concern is can we replicate it in other places without the trust that has been built in Deschutes County?”
There has been strong support for the bill with no testimony submitted against it. It’s backed by the three main Deschutes County legislators, state Sen. Anthony Broadman, and Reps. Jason Kropf and Levy. Two of the leaders on water legislation in Oregon Reps. Mark Owens, R-Crane, and Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, are chief co-sponsors on the bill.
Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, did raise some concerns about the bill and voted against it in a committee vote Thursday. The bill still easily moved ahead. Nonetheless, Iverson raised some reasonable points. She called for careful oversight of the water bank since it will be operated by a nonprofit and not the state. She also called for regular reporting and accountability for the water bank’s performance.
The bill does require the Deschutes River Conservancy to submit detailed annual reports to the Oregon Water Resources Department. And the Deschutes River Conservancy has been a steady, reliable source of projects to improve the Deschutes River with people of diverse perspectives and interests on its board.
Pass House Bill 3806.
Read more at: https://bendbulletin.com/2025/06/03/editorial-allow-a-deschutes-basin-water-bank/
Photo: A farmer checks for carrot seeds in the soil left behind by a combine while harvesting a field in the North Unit Irrigation District in 2021, near Madras. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
