Skip to main content

WaterSMART - Middle Fork Irrigation District

County: Hood River

Project Description
Through NRCS’s EQIP WaterSMART Initiative, we collaborate with the Bureau of Reclamation to coordinate investments in priority areas for improving our cumulative impact in water conservation and drought resilience. The Middle Fork Irrigation District WaterSMART project is to assist local orchardists and pasture operators with irrigation infrastructure improvements. This project complements a Bureau of Reclamation project to pipe the Middle Fork Irrigation District’s diversion from Coe Creek to an existing settling pond. This is the second year of this WaterSMART project. 

Primary Resource Concerns

  • Source Water Depletion – Surface Water Depletion 
  • Source Water Depletion – Inefficient Irrigation Water Use and Surface Water Depletion
  • Weather Resilience – Naturally Available Moisture Use

Conservation Practices Offered

  • Irrigation Pipeline (430)
  • Irrigation System, Microirrigation (441)
  • Sprinkler System (442)
  • Irrigation Water Management (449)
  • Structure for Water Control (587)

Ranking Criteria
NRCS uses these questions to evaluate applications for this initiative and to prioritize applications for potential funding. State and national ranking questions also apply. See more information on the EQIP program page.

Ranking Questions

  1. Has the applicant previously done any irrigation system upgrades to property within the MFID boundary on their own funding?
  2. Will the irrigation efficiency improvement gained by the proposed project show a 20% or more gain using the NRCS Irrigation Water Savings Estimator? 
  3. Is the applicant willing to work with the SWCD and OSU to adopt a higher than “basic” level of Irrigation Water Management?
  4. Will the contract be no longer than 3 years in length? 
  5. Is this proposed project for Irrigation Water Management only, with no upgrades to the irrigation system?