Owyhee Irrigation District Manager Jay Chamberlin is planning for a tight water season as deliveries begin next month.

The board on March 16 set a tentative allotment of 3 acre-feet — down from the usual 4 — given a below-normal amount of water stored in Owyhee Reservoir near Adrian, Ore.

The board plans to meet March 30 to re-evaluate snowpack, the allotment and system turn-on.

Chamberlin said if the board sticks with the 25% allotment reduction, “growers and the district will operate in a more conservative manner.” That could include postponing turn-on by a week or so.

Even if the allotment goes back to 4 acre-feet eventually, “the whole tone is set, anticipating much-below-normal inflow,” he said. “The mode of operation is going to be really conservative, running a really tight ship and encouraging users to use that 4 feet very wisely.”

The reservoir March 22 was at 55-56% capacity compared to the 65-70% district managers want to see this time of year, Chamberlin said. Carryover between seasons was also down from a year ago.

Irrigation districts and canal companies in Idaho and southeastern Oregon are wrapping up off-season projects and preparing to deliver water to farms and pastures.

Twin Falls Canal Co. March 23 began charging its system out of Murtaugh Lake, engineering technician Louis Zamora said. Those outflows go into the company’s main canals. Delivery is expected around April 12. A normal allotment is slated.

He said offseason projects included adding two new ponds to help improve water quality and to aid in flood management, and automating a headgate with help from a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cost-share grant.

Nampa & Meridian Irrigation District Superintendent Greg Curtis said crews have been working in the system’s upper reaches to remove volunteer trees, re-grade channels and make erosion-related repairs. That is in addition to recently piping a 1,000-foot lateral for a planned housing development, re-lining a canal segment and annual tasks such as burning weeds and reassembling headgates.

Water likely will start flowing April 5, “but we’re going to tell people not to expect deliveries until the week of April 19,” he said. “It takes a full two weeks to get everything up and charged.”

Pioneer Irrigation District Superintendent Mark Zirschky said offseason work in the Caldwell-based district included repairing or replacing concrete structures, fixing pumps and wells, and repairing damage from an earthquake a year ago.

In much of Idaho, population growth has brought more homeowners onto irrigation districts’ customer rolls. Curtis and Zirschky said they are working with more new and planned housing developments.

The Idaho Water Users Association this year started an awareness campaign about preseason projects and irrigation districts’ overall importance.

The Owyhee district postponed some larger off-season projects due to COVID-19 and a shortage of pipe, Chamberlin said.