State water officials brief Klamath County on tribal instream rights, enforcement and monitoring

Tom Skyles, regional manager for Oregon Water Resources, told Klamath County commissioners May 19 that the agency will host a May 28 open house in Klamath Falls to gather public comment on rule changes including waste of water, exempt uses and penalties.

Skyles gave background on tribal instream claims in the upper basin, saying the area north of the California border is about 5,500 square miles and that the Klamath Tribes were issued determined instream claims in 2013 that include two lake‑level claims and multiple stream segments. "In 2013 determined claims were issued for the Klamath Tribes on 40 instream claims," Skyles said.

Skyles and Garrett Steinsland, District 17 water master, explained how enforcement works: when a senior rights holder or the Klamath Tribes place a call for water, a water master validates flow in the field; if the senior call is not satisfied, junior users upstream may be regulated off. The officials pointed to a gauge near Modoc Point on the Williamson River as a location where validated measurements are taken and used to make enforcement decisions.

Skyles said OWRD's data dashboard for the basin displays river flow versus the instream claim threshold (he cited an example with claims recorded as KA 625). He also presented county‑level statistics, saying that since 2016 some water users on the Sprague and Williamson rivers had access to legally available water about 10% of the irrigation season (roughly 28 days under his working estimate).

Commissioners asked about data sharing and drought permits; Skyles said OWRD will provide the county with monitoring reports and presentations (including a deck referenced from OWRD hydrologists) and will evaluate drought relief applications on a case‑by‑case basis where groundwater is recovering.

Skyles closed by encouraging turnout at the rule‑making open house and offering to share data and presentations with county staff.