Drought Starting To Hit Oregon Hard

Saturday is the first day of fall, but Oregon will continue to deal with summer like drought for the foreseeable future.  The Beaver state is very dry, and that’s impacting area reservoirs.  Wickiup Reservoir which serves Central Oregon is reporting water levels not seen in a generation.  Kyle Gorman, with Oregon's Water Resources Department, says after the dry summer and five years of below-average precipitation, Wickiup Reservoir is just 3% full.

"It is very low and it’s storage that we haven’t seen in a very long time. It’s one that will go down in our records as one of the lowest years since at least 1970."

Wickiup provides water for ag land stretching north toward The Dalles.

"The flow is actually meeting the demand right now, and we anticipate being able to meet those irrigation demands for the remainder of the summer."

The irrigation season for North Central Oregon wraps up October 31^st.

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