Oregon Leaders Are Trying to Save the Deschutes River. Here’s Why That’s So Hard.

ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting report that 90% of the Deschutes River, one of the U.S.'s largest spring-fed waterways, is diverted annually by six irrigation districts, with the Central Oregon Irrigation District (COID) controlling more than half the water. An OPB-ProPublica analysis of satellite data found that during the last drought, COID diverted four times what its landowners' crops consumed while commercial farmers downstream were forced to fallow their land—a disparity the district disputes based on methodological concerns with the satellite data. Oregon is pursuing three main solutions: piping COID's antiquated canal system (which loses nearly 50% of water to evaporation and seepage) at a projected cost exceeding $700 million, implementing a water-banking system allowing voluntary water-sharing, and creating measurement protocols; however, progress is stalled by political resistance to metering requirements, the canal system's dependency on full-volume flow, and the constitutional protection of water rights as property. The reporting is substantive and well-sourced, featuring named officials (state Rep. Ken Helm, COID Director Craig Horrell, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and farmer Evan Thomas) and specific data points, though COID's rejection of the satellite methodology represents an unresolved factual dispute; independent search results corroborate ProPublica's prior related reporting on the same water law inequities. Watch for the 2028 deadline when COID's piping project must be operational to prevent North Unit farmers from abandoning crops, and for whether the water-banking pilot program gains participation now that foundational piping infrastructure is advancing.