As Harney Basin irrigators prepare to work with regulators to cut down on their water use, Oregon legislators are considering a bill that would minimize lengthy legal disputes.

But critics say the legislation would undermine the very state agency whose job it is to manage water.

For decades, farmers have come to grow fields of alfalfa and hay in southeast Oregon, but the water is running dry.

State efforts to cut down groundwater use, however, have frustrated irrigators who worry that it could harm their businesses and the local economy.

On the other hand, residents who don’t irrigate but have domestic wells or livestock water wells say the state has been overly generous to irrigators at the expense of the environment and domestic well owners.

Proponents of House Bill 4049 say it would encourage irrigators in the basin to enter into more flexible voluntary water conservation agreements – binding agreements to reduce water use in the basin – with the Oregon Water Resources Commission.

Irrigators would have a say in writing them.

It would significantly depart from draft guidance the Oregon Water Resources Department published in October of last year – which irrigators criticize for being overly restrictive.

“People on the ground are very reluctant and very concerned about doing voluntary agreements because of the components of the guidance,” said Elizabeth Howard, a water rights attorney who has been representing some of the largest irrigators in the basin, at a House committee session on Feb. 4.

The two main water conservation groups opposing the bill argue it would undo years of work meant to stabilize an aquifer that has long been known to be in decline.

“House Bill 4049 is an attempt by the irrigators to circumvent the authority and expertise of agency staff and scientists and instead plead their case for higher pumping levels to the Oregon Water Resources Commission,” said Lisa Brown, an attorney for Oregon WaterWatch.

Last year, the state water commission – a volunteer advisory board appointed by the governor – unanimously voted to designate the Harney Basin in southeast Oregon a “critical groundwater area”.

This designation gives the Oregon Water Resources Department, overseen by the commission, the authority to reduce how much water irrigators can pump out of the basin, with the goal to stabilize it by 2058.

Groundwater levels in parts of the Harney Basin have been in rapid decline since at least the 1990s.

Almost all of the groundwater that’s used each year, about 97%, is pumped out to irrigate large fields of hay that feed beef and dairy cattle.

Before mandatory water cuts in 2028, irrigators will have an opportunity to go through what’s called a contested case proceeding, which allows water users to legally challenge the restrictions they might face. This process would require an attorney and could be costly and take years to resolve.

To avoid that legal process, a group of irrigators could come together to come up with voluntary water conservation agreements, but those agreements would still need to meet the department’s goals.

That is what state Rep. Owen’s House Bill 4049 seeks to address.

Owens is the co-chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water.

He is also an irrigator in the basin.

“My goal is to work with the water users, to work with the commission and to start reducing water [use], hopefully in the next year or two,” Owens said. “If we cannot find a path that my community feels they can trust, what will occur is litigation.”

The bill would, for instance, get rid of a requirement that a minimum number of water users participate in voluntary conservation agreements for them to be enacted.

It would also expedite the water department’s review process, as well as allow irrigators to draft agreements that would mitigate economic impacts to the local economy.

But the bill also prohibits the water commission from allowing the Water Resources Department or its director to decide whether to approve or reject an agreement.

Owens said he and other irrigators feel this is an important enough issue that they want the commission involved, rather than the department.

“There’s no trust with the director right now in my community,” Owens said. “So in order for us to be successful and even convince community members and myself to work toward a volunteer agreement instead of seeking litigation, we’re going to be working with somebody else right now.”

But Christopher Hall, the executive director of Oregon nonprofit Water League – a water sustainability advocacy group – said he rejects the narrative that this legislation is about trust, and puts it more bluntly.

“House Bill 4049 is written because Rep. Owens and other irrigators can’t control the water resources department,” he said.

The bill would also allow irrigators to achieve reasonably stable groundwater levels “within a reasonable time.”

Brown with Oregon Water Watch says that could allow water users to pump out more water over a longer period of time.

“The [critical groundwater area] rules allow 32 years from now to achieve reasonably stable groundwater levels,” Brown said. “I think what the irrigators want is more time than that, maybe 50 years or 100 years.”

To date, no voluntary water conservation agreements have succeeded or even been proposed in Oregon.

Critics are asking legislators to table the bill and revisit it during a longer legislative session.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/11/bill-could-mitigate-legal-battles-in-harney-basin/