Letters

LETTERS FROM THE ABERDEEN - SPRINGFIELD CANAL COMPANY GENERAL MANAGER
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ARCHIVES

September 13, 2005

Re: Water Shutout Date

Dear Shareholders and Water users,

Once again we're approaching the end of another water season. We were very fortunate again this year with a cool spring and early rains. With the onset of fall temperatures, I suspect that most of you will be done irrigating within the next two to three weeks.

At the beginning of the storage season (July 13, 2005) this year, I told the Board of Directors that not only were we in pretty good shape with respect to the water supply, I believed we could end up with as much as 35,000 acre-feet of carryover if we shut off in mid-October. I'd like to remind you that in each of the drought years that we had to acquire water to have a season (even the short seasons that we had), we needed 30,000 to 40,000 acre-feet. I believe that at least 35,000 acre-feet of carryover should be retained as 'insurance' against the potential for a continued drought.

As of September 12, 2005, we had 71,624 acre-feet of storage water remaining. Our water use model predicts that we will need to shut out the canal on October 8, 2005 in order to have 34,000 acre-feet of carryover. If we continue running water in the canal until October 15th we can expect to use an additional 9,000 to 10,000 acre-feet more, leaving us with about 25,000 acre-feet of carryover. Consequently, my target date for turning the water out of the canal is October 8, 2005. Of course if the weather changes or if more time is needed for harvest, we may extend this date.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to call me.

Thank you,

Steven T. Howser,
General Manager

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