WISE Water Rights Evaluation

The Water for Irrigation, Streams, and Economy (WISE) project was an effort to increase the reliability of the water supply for three irrigation districts and to increase streamflows and water quality in the Little Butte Creek and Bear Creek watersheds. Proposed infrastructure changes included piping major irrigation canals, removing or changing the function of existing diversions in Bear Creek, minimizing tributary diversions, and installing a pressurized delivery system to minimize water losses.

GSI conducted a water rights evaluation and developed a strategic plan to help the WISE partners ensure the water rights could accommodate the project’s goals. We began by reviewing the existing water rights associated with the three irrigation districts within the WISE project area. This provided important context for determining the water right changes that would be needed to support the infrastructure plans, identifying regulatory constraints and potential impacts to other water users, and analyzing water management opportunities associated with the changes under consideration as part of the WISE project. The resulting water rights strategic plan provided the WISE project partners with information about the opportunities and challenges associated with the changes proposed by the WISE project. GSI found that the WISE project’s proposed changes could be implemented from a water rights perspective, but that further information and refinement would be required for some components of the project.

 GSI’s work involved:

• Reviewing existing water rights and current and proposed water supply system operations.
• Assessing regulatory and permitting issues.
• Developing a water rights strategic plan.